Author

Ryan Jockers

Date of Award

January 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Economics & Finance

First Advisor

Wei Yang

Abstract

This paper analyzes the fiscal adjustment of both 2-Year colleges, and 4-Year research institutions and finds very different behavior that has implications for market power and returns to scale within their operations. The 4-Year research institutions have greater stability, show evidence of constant returns to scale, and are able to maintain enrollment levels even when tuition prices increase. Further, they take advantage of the diverse revenue streams available to them due to the nature of their operation. Conversely, the 2-Year colleges have less stability and fewer revenue sources, exhibit behaviors of increasing returns to scale, and are not able to maintain enrollment levels when tuition prices increase which causes an even greater reliance on external governmental revenues.

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