Public efficiency and private choice in higher education

Students tend to enter college when college appeals to them, when appropriate college choices are available, and when at least one of the available colleges has a larger value than the other available op-tions. When any of these conditions is not met, or appears not to be met, students tend to choose otherwise. There are occa-sions in which enrollment choices differ from what is optimal for society, and in such cases the logical public objective is to change some students ' minds. For enrollment patterns in higher edu-cation to change, students must move from the "choose other " to the "choose college" group; merely reinforcing students ' convic-tions that they have chosen wisely is of no benefit. Three possible strategies ensue: (1) changing the situation, which comprises students ' preferences, the options among which they choose, and the characteristics of specific options; (2) improving available information about specific colleges and jobs, so that student perceptions are ac-curate (or at least favor college choices); or (3) reducing the role of chance in student choices. Among these strategies only two, changing the situation and improving in-formation, translate readily into practical policy, because only for these do theory and research suggest specific tactics. These tactics range from expensive ones, such as building new colleges, to relatively This work was supported by the National Institute of Education, under its grant OB-NIE-G-78-0212 t