Table 1: Summary Statistics and Balance Tests

||(1)<br>(2)|(3)|(4)|(5)|(6)|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Entire<br>Track<br>sample<br>dorm|Random<br>dorm|Track<br>non-dorm|Random<br>non-dorm|Balance<br>test _p_|
|_Panel A: High school gradu_|_ation test scores_|||||
|Mean score (standardized)|0.088<br>0.169|0.198|0.000|0.000|0.426|
|A on graduation test|0.278<br>0.320|0.325|0.222|0.253|0.108|
|_≤_C on graduation test|0.233<br>0.224|0.201|0.254|0.250|0.198|
|_Panel B: Demographic char_|_acteristics_|||||
|Female|0.513<br>0.499|0.517|0.523|0.514|0.103|
|Black|0.319<br>0.503|0.524|0.116|0.118|0.181|
|White|0.423<br>0.354|0.332|0.520|0.495|0.851|
|Other race|0.257<br>0.143|0.144|0.364|0.387|0.124|
|English-speaking|0.714<br>0.593|0.560|0.851|0.863|0.001|
|International|0.144<br>0.225|0.180|0.106|0.061|0.913|
|_Panel C: Graduated high sc_|_hool in 2004 or earlier, _|_necessary to e_|_nroll under tr_|_acking_||
|Eligible for tracking|0.516<br>1.000|0.027|1.000|0.033|0.124|
|Eligible _|_ A student|0.475<br>1.000|0.002|1.000|0.010|0.037|
|Eligible _| ≤_C student|0.527<br>1.000|0.039|1.000|0.050|0.330|
|_Panel D: High school locate_<br>|_d in Cape Town, proxy _|_for dormitory _|_eligibility_|||
|Cape Town high school|0.411<br>0.088|0.083|0.765|0.754|0.657|
|Cape Town _|_ A student|0.414<br>0.101|0.065|0.848|0.811|0.976|
|Cape Town _| ≤_C student|0.523<br>0.146|0.186|0.798|0.800|0.224|

_Notes:_ Table 1 reports summary statistics of student characteristics at the time of enrollment, for the entire sample (column 1), tracked dormitory students (column 2), randomly assigned dormitory students (column 3), tracked non-dormitory students (column 4), and randomly assigned non-dormitory students (column 5). The _p_ -values reported in column 6 are from testing whether the mean change in each variable between the tracking and random assignment periods is equal for dormitory and non-dormitory students.

there is a high and time-invariant correlation between living in a dormitory and graduating from a high school outside Cape Town. This relationship reflects the university’s policy of restricting the number of students who live in Cape Town who may be admitted to the dormitory system.<sup>19</sup> The fact that this relationship does not change through time provides some reassurance that students are not strategically choosing whether or not to live in dormitories in response to the dormitory assignment policy change. This pattern may in part reflect prospective students’ limited information about the dormitory assignment policy: the

> 19I do not observe students’ home addresses, which are used for the university’s dormitory admissions. Instead, I match records on students’ high schools to a public database of high school GIS codes. I then determine whether students attended high schools in or outside the Cape Town metropolitan area. This is an imperfect proxy of their home address for three reasons: long commutes and boarding schools are fairly common, the university allows students from very low-income neighborhoods on the outskirts of Cape Town to live in dormitories, and a small number of Cape Town students with medical conditions or exceptional academic records are permitted to live in the dormitories.

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