Does the availability of parental health insurance affect the college enrollment decision of young Americans?

The present study examines whether the college enrollment decision of young individuals (student full-time, student part-time, and non-student) depends on health insurance coverage via a parent's family health plan. Our findings indicate that the availability of parental health insurance can have significant effects on the probability that a young individual enrolls as a full-time student. A young individual who has access to health insurance via a parent can be up to 22% more likely to enroll as a full-time student than an individual without parental health insurance. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity this probability drops to 5.5% but is still highly significant. We also find that the marginal effect of the availability of parental health insurance has a larger effect on older students between ages 21 and 23. We provide a brief discussion about possible implications of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 in this context.

► Availability of parental health insurance has significant effects on probability that a young individual enrolls as a full-time student. ► A young individual with access to parental health insurance is between 5.5% and 22% more likely to enroll as a full-time student than one without parental health insurance. ► Marginal effect of availability of parental health insurance is larger on older students. ► The Affordable Care Act of 2010 could result in between 272,000 and 428,000 fewer college graduates annually.