Cross-Border Student Migration and Regional Tuition Exchange Compacts

• In Event: Issues in PK–16 Education Funding

Abstract

Regional state tuition exchanges offer a way for students to take advantage of lower tuition prices in an era of rising costs. They also allow state universities to incentivize out-of-state students to attend their campuses. Few have studied the extent to which these exchanges affect enrollment, college choice, and other factors related to the student experience. This paper uses OLS regression models with fixed effects to determine the degree to which state tuition exchanges are related to out-of-state enrollment. The findings, while not causal, suggest a positive statistically significant relationship between an institution’s membership in a reciprocal tuition exchange and out-of-state enrollment. The relationship is especially strong between exchange membership and out-of-state enrollment from border-states at the university level.

Authors

• Christopher Russell Marsicano, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Jenna Weber Kramer, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College