Jess Hoel

Econ of Ed (and other) friends: what are the best studies linking in-college interventions to labor market outcomes? Especially interested in those that improve outcomes via different mechanism than completion. E.g. if a college wants to improve earnings of grads, what should they do?

This is a fantastic op-ed. And USA Today!! Wow!

Day 18: What I learned about the Economics of Higher Education Over the last 18 posts, this series has followed my new course The Economics of Higher Education.

Day 18: Back where this thread started.

What I learned about the Economics of Higher Education.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-18-wha...

Day 17: The Policy Memo A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 17: The Policy Memo. "Write a 2 page memo to convince one decision-maker to make one change next year." What were the students' ideas for my college?

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-17-the...

Day 16: The College Budget Project A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 16: The College Budget Project. Suppose that 21% tax on endowment earnings did pass. That would be a nearly $15 million hole in the Colorado College budget. What would you cut to make ends meet?

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-16-the...

Day 15: The Consulting Project A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 15: The Enrollment Division had questions and data. My students have skills they need to practice. That inspired The Consulting Project.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-15-the...

Day 14: Grades, graduation rates, and actual learning A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 14: Grade inflation is rampant. How has it affected graduation rates? Learning? Does learning in college even matter?

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-14-gra...

Day 13: Athletics A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 13: Why do small schools have DIII athletics? Why do some have DI programs? Why not more of them?

And do athletes do better or worse than non-athletes on the job market? My uninvited referee report of an NBER working paper.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-13-ath...

Day 12: Financial Aid (and a bit about what's in that Big Beautiful Bill) A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 12: Financial aid is complicated. Let's define our terms. And: a bit about what's in that One Big Beautiful Bill.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-12-fin...

Day 11: Fundraising A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 11: Back to the money: Who donates money to colleges? Why? What can colleges do to increase gifts? Today: Fundraising.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-11-fun...

Day 10: Independent full-class project work day! No post.

Day 9: The Demographic Cliff A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 9: The total number of 18-year-olds born in the US starts shrinking this year. What will the demographic cliff do to higher education?

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-9-the-...

Day 8: Finance A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 8: What does it mean to be "tuition dependent"? How much money do colleges get from their endowments? And why can't they use more? Today we take a close look at the financial statements of my college.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-8-fina...

Day 7: Admissions and Enrollment A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 7: It's harder to get into college today than ever before. So who does get in? And why? Did you know that most students offered admission to a fancy school don't accept? Let's talk about admissions and enrollment.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-7-admi...

Day 6: Peer effects A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 6: Everybody knows that who you hang out with matters. But precisely how much do they affect your GPA? Up today: peer effects.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-6-peer...

Day 5: Formal education is a stupid waste of time and money A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 5: Formal education is a stupid waste of time and money. A contrarian take.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-5-form...

Day 4: How much is a college degree worth? A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 4: Is college still worth it? Yes, but it depends on your major, your background, and it's never been guaranteed. And guess what? The college wage premium may be shrinking.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-4-how-...

Day 3: Why does college cost so much? A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 3: Why does college cost so much? The leading hypothesis: highly educated workers are expensive. But the story’s more complex, and the trends may be changing.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-3-why-...

Day 1: Introduction to the Economics of Higher Education A series following my new class: The Economics of Higher Education

Day 2: My students use AI to analyze text data from Colorado College to understand what our students think is the point of college

AND 

The history of higher education in the US
liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-1-intr...

My syllabus for EC350: The Economics of Higher Education Ok, it's really the Economics of My Liberal Arts College...

Day 1: What will we be doing this block? Start here for a preview of the readings, the guest speakers, the Consulting Project, the College Budget Project, and the Policy Memo.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/my-syllabu...

Please tell me about the papers I missed and should include in next year's syllabus!

I wrote this series so you all can help me do my job better.

Interested to learn more?

I've been writing series that followed my new class day-by-day for the 18 days on the Colorado College block plan. Read on if you'd like to go back and follow along...

Day 18: What I learned about the Economics of Higher Education Over the last 18 posts, this series has followed my new course The Economics of Higher Education.

What is the point of college? Why is college so expensive? Will it always be? How should liberal arts colleges adapt in an increasingly challenging industry?

A summary of what I learned from teaching the Economics of Higher Education.

liberalartsledger.substack.com/p/day-18-wha...

Is this just about Columbia, or is the Administration aiming to use this as a way to disaccredit the accreditor, and thereby ALL of the schools they accredit would be ineligible for federal financial aid?

I think the end game here is setting up new accreditors that adhere to new standards

Thanks for highlighting this Dominique. I called my Congressman because I saw you post to let him know that constituents like us are paying attention.

Thank you for highlighting this Jill.

I just called my Congressman to let him know that people like us are paying attention.

I hope that other people who care about education and education statistics call their Congressperson today too.

The Liberal Arts Ledger | Jessica Hoel | Substack An economics professor tries to understand how small selective liberal arts colleges finance and run themselves. Click to read The Liberal Arts Ledger, by Jessica Hoel, a Substack publication with hun...

Me, maybe? I haven't published in the area yet, but I do write a Substack about the economics of liberal arts colleges.

liberalartsledger.substack.com

Who might have good suggestions? @jkerwin.bsky.social @lukestein.com ...

I also just sent a poll to my most recent group of students. I'll let you know what they say.

Associate Econ Prof here:

Which GenAI should I experiment with this summer, both as my own RA and to prepare to teach students how to best use it in their own work?

ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo)
Claude Pro ($17/mo)
Gemini Advanced ($20/mo)
ChatGPT Pro ($200/mo)
Claude Max ($100/mo)
Other recommendations?