Costs of attendance and the educational programs of first-time community college students

I use data from the State University of New York to examine whether changes in community college attendance costs yield different impacts on first-time enrollment in different community college programs. Evidence is strong that academic-program enrollment significantly and substantially decreases when 2-year tuition increases, but weaker that it increases when 4-year tuition increases. Occupational-program enrollment is less responsive to 2- and 4-year tuition changes, but more responsive to labor market conditions. These different responses translate into significant changes in the program composition of entering community college cohorts when the costs of attendance change.