Abstract

Using millions of SAT takers linked to college enrollment and voting records, we document wide variation in voter participation across otherwise similar colleges.  We estimate over 2,600 colleges' value-added to the likelihood of voting and find that 30 percent of the observed variation across colleges is attributable to the colleges themselves. The standard deviation of these estimates ranges from 3 to 5 percentage points (6–10 percent), with almost all students in our sample attending colleges that increase their entrants’ probability of voting. These effects appear soon after enrollment, persist beyond college, and are driven by colleges creating new voters.