Do Institutional Characteristics Affect Student Gains from College?

Abstract

Academics have long striven to better understand how colleges affect students and whether student gains during their undergraduate careers are influenced by specific characteristics of students and their respective institutions. As Pascarella (1991) noted, "The impact of college on students forms, perhaps, the single largest base of empirical investigations in higher education" [End Page 39] (p. 455). 1 The interest of campus administrators in the topic has certainly been heightened in recent years by increased calls from stakeholders for accountability and cost efficiency in higher education. While some institutional characteristics are beyond an administrator's control, such as public vs. private status, they can influence other institutionalcharacteristics such as the size, selectivity, mission, and level of expenditures.