An Examination of Forces Impacting Enrollment Levels In U.S. Colleges and Universities

Over time the numbers of students who enter colleges and universities with the intent to further their academic careers has continued to rise sharply. This has placed a significant burden on our nation’s institutions of higher education. To meet this growing demand, academicians must understand what influences bear on enrollment levels and how these factors might provide insight to aid in the management process. This paper examines the trends in enrollment levels in our nation’s institutions and the forces that shape those enrollment levels. Data are collected for a sample of colleges and universities across the nation and a model is designed to identify those characteristics that might explain enrollment levels. This is accomplished by identifying those characteristics, both personal and institutional, that are associated with enrollment levels. In this manner, a demand function for education will be presented with enrollments serving as the response variable. Given the cross-sectional nature of the data Park’s rest is conducted to detect the presence of heteroscedasticity. Weighted Least Squares is then applied to the data to identify the proper functional form.