Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/173032 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 6756
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
To understand the socio-economic enrollment gap in university attendance, we elicit students’ beliefs about the benefits of university education in a sample of 2,540 secondary school students. Our choice model estimates reveal that perceived non-pecuniary benefits explain a large share of the variation in intentions to enroll. Expected job satisfaction, parental approval, and perceptions about social life during the 3-4 years after finishing secondary school are most important. Students with low socio-economic status perceive pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to be lower. Beliefs explain 48% of the socio-economic gap in intentions to enroll, while perceived non-pecuniary returns alone account for 37%.
Subjects: 
higher education
beliefs
socio-economic inequality
intergenerational mobility
JEL: 
I24
I26
J13
J24
J62
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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