Private Tutoring: a necessary supplement to admission in Higher Education?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the Economics of Private Tutoring as the most visible and extended manifestation in Argentina of the existence of a shadow education market affecting the admission chances of candidates at Universities. The conceptual tenets of shadow education emerged in the literature in relation to secondary education (Bray, 1999, 2013, Bray & Lykins, 2012; Choi, Calero & Escardíbul, 2011). In this presentation the idea is extended to the realm of higher education. This issue received little attention in the literature and is examined in Argentina for the first time in this paper. Information collected, during 2013, through a survey of 360 admitted candidates at four schools at National University of Cordoba was used in this study. Schools were selected to account for students that present the highest and lowest probabilities to attend to entrance supplementary private tutoring (ESPT). About 17%, 31%, 39% and 92% of admitted candidates in Law, Dentistry, Economic and Health Sciences declared to have attended SPT. Preliminary results show student population is heterogeneous across schools (by place of residence or gender). Large variations in chances of attending SPT, once socio-economic factors were controlled, were found. In all four schools, migrant students are more willing to buy SPT. No correlation was found, however, between the ratio of the accepted to pre-registered students and the proportion of admitted students who assisted to SPT by school. Nevertheless, we conclude, ESPT in Higher Education is in Argentina a growing, highly concentrated industry. Activities related only to the four examined schools revealed near 7,000 candidates attended SPT (1/3 of total candidates). This small slice of the market might have contributed to a total estimated income to private tutoring companies of about US$ 4.6 million a year, in 2012.