Housing Costs, College Enrollment, and Student Mobility

Arbeitspapier

We study the effects of rental price changes on college enrollment rates. We exploit cross-district variation in the size and timing of local rental price booms in Germany during the 2010s. A one standard deviation increase in apartment rents decreased per-capita college enrollment by 1.1 percentage points on average. The effect was driven by first-year students moving long distances and was more pronounced in less densely populated locations. Housing costs - the largest component of students' expenditures and an important location factor - have contributed to the slowdown in higher education expansion and reduced the skill-binding effect of universities, exacerbating regional inequality.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 16726

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Housing Demand ; Housing Supply and Markets
• Subject: college enrollments ; housing market ; apartment rents

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Goehausen, Johannes ; Thomsen, Stephan L.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2024

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282853
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET