Who Is Offered a University Place and Who Rejects Their Offer? - A 2014 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Project

Sep 5, 2026

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Examines which students are offered university places and which reject those offers, using VTAC data to study decision-making in higher education selection. Supported by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE), the work investigates how background and eligibility factors relate to offer outcomes and subsequent acceptance or rejection behavior. It combines institutional context, portfolio measures, and empirical modelling to explain disparities that may disadvantage low SES students during the selection process.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages47

Reading Time1 h 58 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

1 Introduction

1.1 Existing literature and evidence

2 Institutional setting and data

2.1 Institutions

2.2 Data

2.3 Optimal portfolios

3 Empirical methods

3.1 Non-parametric analysis

3.2 Probit analysis

4 Results and discussion

5 Conclusions

References

WHO IS OFFERED A UNIVERSITY PLACE AND WHO REJECTS THEIR OFFER? A 2014 Student Equity in Higher Education Research Grants Project Dr Buly Cardak (La Trobe University), Dr Mark Bowden and Mr John Bahtsevanoglou (Swinburne University of Technology) [Make tomorrow better.](Make tomorrow better. ncsehe.edu.au)[ ncsehe.edu.au](Make tomorrow better. ncsehe.edu.au) Curtin University is a trademark of Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J Who is offered a university place and who rejects their offer? The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) at Curtin University and express our gratitude to Paul Livingstone, Manager Research, Measurement & Reporting, Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre, for providing the data used in the project and for assistance in numerous ad-hoc requests for additional information and advice. We also thank Jamie Doughney, Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, for the initial idea of using the VTAC data to analyse students’ decisions in the hope of understanding how students from low SES backgrounds may be disadvantaged in the selection process. We are grateful to Hector Chade, Department of Economics, Arizona State University, and Utku Unver, Economics Department, Boston College, and Chris Ryan and Cain Polidano, MIASER, University of Melbourne, and Joe Vecci, Department of Economics, Monash University, for helpful discussions on various aspects of the modelling, data and empirical analysis. Finally we are grateful to John Phillimore, Sue Trinidad, Michael Dockery and the team at NCSEHE for their helpful comments and suggestions. Contact for further information: Associate Professor Buly A. Cardak Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe Business School La Trobe University [b.cardak@latrobe.edu.au](b.cardak@latrobe.edu.au) Dr Mark Bowden Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance Swinburne University of Technology [mbowden@swin.edu.au](mbowden@swin.edu.au) Mr John Bahtsevanoglou Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance Swinburne University of Technology Buly A. Cardak, Mark P. Bowden and John Bahtsevanoglou ii Who is offered a university place and who rejects their offer? Table of Contents List of Tables ..............................................................................................................iv List of Figures............................................................................................................. v Executive Summary ................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Existing literature and evidence ........................................................................ 6 2 Institutional setting and data.................................................................................. 12 2.1 Institutions ....................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Data ................................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Optimal portfolios ............................................................................................ 19 3 Empirical methods ................................................................................................. 21 3.1 Non-parametric analysis ................................................................................. 21 3.2 Probit analysis................................................................................................. 22 4 Results and discussion.......................................................................................... 23 5 Conclusions .................................................

FAQs

What is the document’s main focus?

It analyzes which students receive university offers and which students reject those offers, linking outcomes to student background and application decision factors.

What data source is used for the analysis?

The study uses VTAC data provided for the project, enabling modelling of students’ application and offer-related decisions.

How does the report analyze offer outcomes?

It applies empirical methods including non-parametric analysis and probit analysis, supported by portfolio-related measures and variables drawn from the application timeline.

Sep 5, 2026

Uploaded by Gelato