Working Paper: NBER ID: w20890
Authors: David J. Deming; Claudia Goldin; Lawrence F. Katz; Noam Yuchtman
Abstract: We examine whether online learning technologies have led to lower prices in higher education. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we show that online education is concentrated in large for-profit chains and less-selective public institutions. Colleges with a higher share of online students charge lower tuition prices. We present evidence that real and relative prices for full-time undergraduate online education declined from 2006 to 2013. Although the pattern of results suggests some hope that online technology can “bend the cost curve” in higher education, the impact of online learning on education quality remains uncertain.
Keywords: online learning; higher education; tuition prices
JEL Codes: I22; I23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| online enrollment shares (I24) | tuition prices (I22) |
| online education (A22) | tuition prices (I22) |
| online education (A22) | cost curve in higher education (D29) |