DOES IT PAY TO ATTEND AN ELITE PRIVATE COLLEGE - EVIDENCE ON THE EFFECTS OF UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE QUALITY ON GRADUATE-SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Much attention has recently focused on the rapidly rising costs of a c ollege education, and whether the benefits of attending an elite priva te college have kept pace with the increasing costs. In this paper we analyze whether undergraduate college quality affects the likelihood t hat an individual attends graduate school. Using data on three cohorts of students from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School C lass of 1972 and High School and Beyond, we find that on balance atten dance at an elite private college significantly increases the probabil ity of attending graduate school, and more specifically, graduate scho ol at a major research institution. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.