Abstract:

In this paper, we examine whether distance from permanent residence is a significant determinant of a student's academic performance in higher education. As shown in the literature, a large number of different individual, institutional and socioeconomic factors can influence graduation grades. After controlling for these factors, we investigate whether road distance is also a statistically influential variable. We employ data on both admission and final graduation grades from a Portuguese public university to estimate a model of relative academic performance, using an instrumental variables two-stage least squares estimator to account for possible endogeneity bias. We find distance to be a significant negative determinant of relative academic performance in higher education. The effect is less pronounced for female students, suggesting a greater capacity of adaptation to a more independent way of life. This finding has important implications for both policymakers designing the national network of higher education institutions, and for individual universities' student support services.

Keywords:

Higher education, academic performance, geographical distance.