Nonresident Enrollment at Religious and Secular Colleges

Abstract

Institutional characteristics and regional economic data are used to determine if religious private colleges have a higher percentage of nonresident students than do secular colleges. A test of means and a two-stage least squares regression are used on a data set of 827 private higher education institutions to present evidence on the differences between religious and secular private colleges. The study finds that the percentage of nonresident students is higher at secular than at religious private colleges. Evidence suggests that religious colleges may serve a special niche in their local market. It does not appear that nonresident students are willing to attend a religious college solely for religious reasons as their lower tuition levels do not result in higher out-of-state enrollments.

Notes

* significant at 5%.

** significant at 1%.

*significant at 5%.

**significant at 1%.

^a Dependent variable: Tuition rate (Tuition).

^b Dependent variable: Percent nonresident enrollment (NonRes%).