The purpose of the study was to determine (a) if high school enrollment demand, governmental funding capacity, or institutional prestige were predictors of the use of tuition discounts, (b) if increases in tuition discounts stimulated institutional spending capacity, and (c) if tuition discounts trends were notably different if examined from a regional, institutional size, and tuition price perspective at 63 public Research 1 Institutions from 1990 to 2004.

The study included the use of (a) hierarchical linear modeling, (b) multiple linear regression (c) box plots, (d) mean diamond, (e) trend lines, and (f) scatter plots.

First, the results established that changes in tuition discounting could be predicted based on (a) changes in (i) number of high school graduates within the state and (ii) number of national high school graduates, (b) changes in governmental spending capacity within the state, measured by state spending capacity, and (c) changes in institutional prestige, measured by U.S. News and World Report national ranking data.

Second, the results established a positive relationship between tuition discounting and institutional spending capacity on a per undergraduate student basis, both of which trended upwards during the time frame of 1990 to 2004. Third, the results established no notable variation in average tuition discount per undergraduate student, when examined based on (a) region, (c) institutional size, or (c) level of tuition.