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Competition among Colleges for Students across the Nation
Author(s) -
Smith Jonathan,
Pender Matea,
Howell Jessica
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/soej.12246
Subject(s) - competitor analysis , competition (biology) , set (abstract data type) , institution , business , marketing , psychology , mathematics education , political science , computer science , law , ecology , biology , programming language
Colleges compete with one another for students. This article overcomes historical data limitations associated with forming a national picture of competition among colleges using the universe of SAT‐takers. We identify and measure competition by the overlap within the set of colleges to which students send their SAT scores (Score Sends). We document the competitive landscape for 1152 colleges between 1996 and 2013 including the number of competitors, the intensity of the competition, and characteristics of a college's primary competitors. For example, on average, a college has Score Send overlap with 736 other institutions and their primary competitors are located 104 miles away and have 34.2% Score Send overlap. All of the documented measures of competition vary greatly by institution type but do not change dramatically over the time period examined.