Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36763 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5021
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In light of the recent bans on affirmative action in higher education, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of alternative admissions policies on the persistence and college completion of minority students. I find that the change from affirmative action to the Top 10% Plan in Texas decreased both retention and graduation rates of lower-ranked minority students. Results show that both fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation of second-decile minority students decreased, respectively, by 2.4 and 3.3 percentage points. The effect of the change in admissions policy was slightly larger for minority students in the third and lower deciles: fall-to-fall freshmen retention and six-year college graduation decreased, respectively, by 4.9 and 4.2 percentage points. Moreover, I find no evidence in support of the minority mismatch hypothesis. These results suggest that most of the increase in the graduation gap between minorities and non-minorities in Texas, a staggering 90 percent, was driven by the elimination of affirmative action in the 1990s.
Subjects: 
Affirmative action
Top 10% Plan
college quality
freshmen retention
college graduation
JEL: 
I21
I23
J15
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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