Does Catholic High School Attendance Lead to Attendance at a More Selective College?*

Objectives. To evaluate whether Catholic high school attendance, relative to public high school attendance, affects the quality of four‐year college that students attend. Methods. We use quantile regression, which allows the relationship between Catholic high school attendance and college quality to vary along the conditional college quality distribution. Results. We find the relationship between Catholic high school attendance and college quality is larger and more significant at the top half of the conditional college quality distribution than at the bottom half. Conclusions. An understanding of the potential benefits of Catholic schooling is essential to an informed debate about school‐choice programs such as educational vouchers. One potential benefit associated with Catholic schooling is matriculation at more selective colleges and universities. We find some evidence that such a benefit exists.