The Effect of Access to College Assessments on Enrollment and Attainment

This paper examines if students’ college outcomes are sensitive to access to college admissions tests. I construct a dataset of every test center location and district policy in the United States linked to the universe of individual testing records and a large sample of college enrollment records. I find evidence that SAT taking is responsive to the opening or closing of a testing center at a student’s own or a neighboring high school and to policies that provide free in-school administration and default registration. Newly induced takers of high academic aptitude appear likely to attend and graduate from college. (JEL H75, I23, I28)