The Effects of the Thai College Admissions System on Private Tutoring Expenditure, Income and Achievement Disparities

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: College admissions in Thailand is under a centralized systems in which acceptance is based on a scoring system that combines students’ performance on the college entrance exam and their high school GPA. The system has a reputation for objectivity and fairness, as every student has equal chance of taking the same test. In this paper, I explore whether the centralized system can result in a wider achievement gap in students of different socio-economic status. I firstly assess whether the system leads to a higher demand in private tutoring among high school students by observing how household expenditure on private tutoring has changed after a change in the scoring system by giving more weight to test score was enforced; secondly, I explore the relationship between tutoring expenditure and education outcome. I find statistically significant effects on private tutoring in response to the policy change, with different magnitude and direction for different socioeconomic status of the households. I also find a strong correlation between households’ investment in private tutoring and college attendance. These results suggest government policy changes in education to increase attendance. These results suggest government policy changes in education to increase equality of opportunity, including investing more in the schools with less emphasis on the test scores for college admissions.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 2013

Author	Poovudhikul, Venussa
Primary advisor	Bettinger, Eric
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Department of Economics

Subject	Stanford Department of Economics
Subject	College admissions
Subject	Private tutoring
Subject	Thailand
Subject	Income and achievement gap
Genre	Thesis

Related item	Title 2013 Award for Excellence in Honors Thesis Presentation
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/gz216qm0194

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Preferred Citation: Poovudhikul, Venussa. (2013). The Effects of the Thai College Admissions System on Private Tutoring Expenditure, Income and Achievement Disparities. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/gz216qm0194

Stanford University, Department of Economics, Honors Theses

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