Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper investigates the impact of high-speed Internet on students’ college application decisions. Using data on millions of PSAT and SAT takers between 2001 and 2008, we estimate the impact of zip code-year-level broadband Internet access on various aspects of student’s college applications and enrollment.  Exploiting within zip code variation in the roll out of broadband access, we find that students with access to high-speed Internet apply to more colleges, more selective colleges, better academically matched colleges, and more geographically distant colleges. Consistent with previous literature which has found that low-income students have fewer in-roads to elite institutions, we find broadband exerts greater effects on students in lower-income areas.