Does Accessibility to Higher Education Matter? Choice Behavior of High School Graduates in the Netherlands

Abstract

This paper identifies pivotal factors behind individual decision making in the transition from high school to post-secondary education in the Netherlands. We apply a multinomial logit framework to individual data and accommodate two types of effects that have not received much attention in the literature. First, we analyse the impact of geographical accessibility of the higher education system. Second, we allow the individual observations to be correlated within schools, in effect accounting for localized social interactions. Our results confirm the paramount influence of the student's track record and talent. The results, however, also show that geographical proximity significantly increases the probability of high school leavers continuing their education at a university or professional college.L'accessibilité à l'enseignement supérieur importe-t-elle? Comportement du choix des diplô més de l'enseignement secondaire au Pays-Bas RÉ SUMÉ Cet article identifie les facteurs essentiels intrinse`ques a`la prise de de´cision individuelle dans la transition ayant lieu entre l'e´cole secondaire et l'enseignement postsecondaire au Pays-Bas. Nous appliquons le cadre d'un logit multinomial a`des donne´es individuelles et nous adaptons deux types d'effets qui n'ont pas be´ne´ficie´d'une grande attention dans la documentation. Premie`rement, nous analysons l'impact de l'accessibilite´ge´ographique du syste`me de l'enseignement secondaire. Deuxie`mement, nous permettons la corre´lation des commentaires individuels au sein des e´coles, qui repre´sentent de fait des interactions sociales localise´es. Nos re´sultats confirment l'influence primordiale des re´sultats obtenus de l'e´tudiant ainsi que de son talent. Les re´sultats montrent cependant e´galement Carla Sá (to whom correspondence should be sent), NIPE, University of Minho, Portugal, and Tinbergen Institute, Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal. Email: cangelica@eeg.uminho.pt. Raymond J. G. M. que la proximite´ge´ographique augmente conside´rablement la probabilite´des sortants du secondaire qui poursuivent leurs e´tudes dans une universite´ou un colle`ge professionnel. ¿Importa el acceso a la Educació n Superior? La toma de decisiones en graduados de Educació n Secundaria en los Países Bajos.RESUMEN Este trabajo identifica los factores claves en la toma de decisiones individuales en la transicio´n del Instituto de Educacio´n Secundaria a la educacio´n Superior en los Países Bajos. Aplicamos un marco logarítmico polinomial a los datos individuales y analizamos dos tipos de efectos que no han sido estudiados detalladamente en este tipo de literatura. Primero, analizamos el impacto de la accesibilidad geogra´fica del sistema de Educacio´n Superior. Segundo, permitimos que las observaciones sean correlacionadas dentro de las escuelas pudiendo explicar las interacciones sociales localizadas. Nuestros resultados confirman la significativa influencia de los antecedentes escolares de los estudiantes y sus habilidades. Los resultados, sin embargo, tambie´n revelan que la ...

Where do regional influences matter? The impact of socio-spatial indicators on transitions from secondary school to university

“…They even distinguish between types of institutions. Results indicate that geographical proximity increases the chances of entering education at a university or college (Sa et al 2004;Flannery and Cullinan 2014).…”

The Effect of Geographic Constraints on the Academic Achievement of Students at King Saud University Using GIS Techniques: A Case Study

“…In the United States of America, Do (2004) and Griffith and Rothstein (2009) revealed that the opportunity for poorer students to attend governmental universities increases if they live near the university. Similarly, Sa et al (2006) noted that the geographic distance to vocational universities and colleges increases the probability of school graduates continuing their education beyond high school in the Netherlands. Based on their study on students from the United Kingdom, Gibbons and Vignoles (2009) concluded that the distance from their houses to their schools affects the selection of the closest college or university.…”

A spatial perspective for predicting enrollment in a regional pharmacy school

“…Students' family financial capability and educational attainment level may exert great influences upon whether they would choose to study pharmacy (Witteman et al 1975). In general, studies have shown that the higher the household income and the greater the demand for a college education, the more choices that student will have (Sa 2006). It appears that families with higher income are more capable of supporting their children's college education.…”

“…For example, with the increased distance from home to school, the flow of information about the school declines, the transportation costs increase, the option for other competing schools increases, and the psychic costs also gets higher (Leppel 1993). While distance itself might be used as a single factor, it is also used to measure the accessibility of individual schools (Sa 2006). This approach could be perceived as a variant of the gravity model.…”

“…Decisions are made not in isolation, but within a network of social interactions (Sa 2006). In the next sections, we introduce the study area and examine how these factors can be used to predict the spatial distribution of enrollment of ETSU pharmacy school.…”