University Choice and Students’ Migration: An Application of the Heckman Model*

This study attempts to elucidate the migration patterns of Korean high school students choosing a university. Estimating a migration equation without considering sample-selection bias would yield incorrect results. Thus, this study used the Heckman model. We found that the sample selection bias would be serious in the case of students living in Seoul. We also found that students living in small towns had a 13.1 percent higher probability of migrating than those residing in Seoul, and an 8.2 percent higher probability than those living in other big cities. The differences in the migration probabilities can be interpreted as a preference for metropolitan areas. A simple policy that provides physical and financial resources to the universities would not be successful. A higher-education policy is likely to be effective only when it is implemented in coordination with the cultural and economic policies of the region.