Impact of Online Applications on Trends in Higher Education Outcomes

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Postsecondary Research 1

Abstract

This study will examine trends in the requirement of online applications at four-year institutions, and will investigate whether an institution’s transition to requiring online application submission was associated with changes in the quantity, quality, and diversity of student applicants. A series of piecewise growth models were fit using nine years of data (2001-2009) from the College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges. The model that best fit the data indicated that there is no immediate increase in the number of applications once an institution puts its application online, but there is a significant increase in the growth rate. Additional analyses will be conducted with a number of other dependent variables, and will include application cost as a time-varying covariate.

Authors

• Jennifer L. Kobrin, The College Board

• Kelcey Edwards, The College Board