The effect of university quality on graduates’ wages

Abstract

The article is devoted to the impact of university quality on graduates’ wages. It combines the information on university, graduates’ wages, socio-demographic characteristics with the data on Unified State Exam (USE) enrollment rates. It is shown that the graduates of high-quality universities have stable wage premium comparing with ordinary university graduates after controlling for academic, socio-demographic and labor market factors. One additional point at the university USE enrollment rate provides the graduates with 1,4-1,5% wage premium. Earnings obtained by the graduates of most selective universities are 23% higher compared with those of the low-quality universities. Impact of the university quality measured by its status is insignificant. Work experience is a more significant predictor of recent graduates’ wages while the significance of the quality of university for recent graduates is lower than for the whole sample.