IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aejpol/v12y2020i2p193-227.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Upstream and Downstream Impacts of College Merit-Based Financial Aid for Low-Income Students: Ser Pilo Paga in Colombia

Author

Listed:
  • Juliana Londoño-Vélez
  • Catherine Rodríguez
  • Fabio Sánchez

Abstract

How does financial aid affect postsecondary enrollment, college choice, and student composition? We present new evidence based on a large-scale program available to high-achieving, low-income students for attending high-quality colleges in Colombia. RD estimates show financial aid eligibility raised immediate enrollment by 56.5 to 86.5 percent, depending on the complier population. This rise, driven by matriculation at private, high-quality colleges, closed the SES enrollment gap among high achievers. Moreover, a DID approach suggests enrollment of aid-ineligible students also improved because college supply expanded in response to heightened demand. With ability stratification largely replacing SES stratification, diversity increased 46 percent at private, high-quality colleges.

Suggested Citation

  • Juliana Londoño-Vélez & Catherine Rodríguez & Fabio Sánchez, 2020. "Upstream and Downstream Impacts of College Merit-Based Financial Aid for Low-Income Students: Ser Pilo Paga in Colombia," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 193-227, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:193-227
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180131
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20180131
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://doi.org/10.3886/E109704V1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20180131.appx
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20180131.ds
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1257/pol.20180131?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seth D. Zimmerman, 2019. "Elite Colleges and Upward Mobility to Top Jobs and Top Incomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 1-47, January.
    2. Sarah R. Cohodes & Joshua S. Goodman, 2014. "Merit Aid, College Quality, and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 251-285, October.
    3. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Parag A. Pathak & Christopher R. Walters, 2018. "Free to Choose: Can School Choice Reduce Student Achievement?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 175-206, January.
    4. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust Nonparametric Confidence Intervals for Regression‐Discontinuity Designs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2295-2326, November.
    5. David S. Lee, 2009. "Training, Wages, and Sample Selection: Estimating Sharp Bounds on Treatment Effects," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1071-1102.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adriana Camacho & Catherine Rodríguez & Fabio Sanchez, 2022. "Does financial aid for top international graduate programs boost education and earnings? Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE 20124, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. Laajaj, Rachid & Moya, Andrés & Sánchez, Fabio, 2022. "Equality of opportunity and human capital accumulation: Motivational effect of a nationwide scholarship in Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Posso, Christian & Saravia, Estefanía & Uribe, Pablo, 2023. "Acing the test: Educational effects of the SaberEs test preparation program in Colombia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Ferreyra,Maria Marta & Garriga,Carlos & Martin,Juan David & Sanchez Diaz,Angelica Maria, 2020. "Raising College Access and Completion : How Much Can Free College Help ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9428, The World Bank.
    5. Londoño-Vélez, Juliana, 2022. "The impact of diversity on perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    6. Busso, Matias & Montaño, Sebastián & Muñoz-Morales, Juan, 2023. "Signaling Specific Skills and the Labor Market of College Graduates," Working papers 108, Red Investigadores de Economía.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolás de Roux & Evan Riehl, 2019. "Isolating Peer Effects in the Returns to College Selectivity," Documentos CEDE 17413, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    2. Scott-Clayton, Judith & Zafar, Basit, 2019. "Financial aid, debt management, and socioeconomic outcomes: Post-college effects of merit-based aid," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 68-82.
    3. Jia, Ruixue & Li, Hongbin, 2021. "Just above the exam cutoff score: Elite college admission and wages in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Thomas J. Kane & Angela Boatman & Whitney Kozakowski & Christopher Bennett & Rachel Hitch & Dana Weisenfeld, 2021. "Is College Remediation a Barrier or a Boost? Evidence from the Tennessee SAILS Program," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 883-913, June.
    5. Canaan, Serena & Mouganie, Pierre & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The Long-Run Educational Benefits of High-Achieving Classrooms," IZA Discussion Papers 15039, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Fort, Margherita & Ichino, Andrea & Rettore, Enrico & Zanella, Giulio, 2022. "Multi-cutoff RD designs with observations located at each cutoff: problems and solutions," CEPR Discussion Papers 16974, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Joshua D. Angrist & Sarah R. Cohodes & Susan M. Dynarski & Parag A. Pathak & Christopher R. Walters, 2016. "Stand and Deliver: Effects of Boston's Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 275-318.
    8. Islam, Asad & Kwon, Sungoh & Masood, Eema & Prakash, Nishith & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Saraswat, Deepak, 2020. "When Goal-Setting Forges Ahead but Stops Short," GLO Discussion Paper Series 526, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Riako Granzier & Vincent Pons & Clemence Tricaud, 2023. "Coordination and Bandwagon Effects: How Past Rankings Shape the Behavior of Voters and Candidates," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 177-217, October.
    10. Gerard, Francois & Rokkanen, Miikka & Rothe, Christoph, 2015. "Identification and Inference in Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Manipulated Running Variable," IZA Discussion Papers 9604, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Krekó, Judit & Telegdy, Álmos, 2022. "The Effects of a Disability Employment Quota When Compliance Is Cheaper than Defiance," IZA Discussion Papers 15726, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Wright, Nicholas A., 2020. "Perform better, or else: Academic probation, public praise, and students decision-making," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Depew, Briggs & Eren, Ozkan, 2016. "Born on the wrong day? School entry age and juvenile crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 73-90.
    14. Marco Ovidi, 2021. "Parents know better: primary school choice and student achievement in London," Working Papers 919, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    15. Lauren Schudde & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2016. "Pell Grants as Performance-Based Scholarships? An Examination of Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements in the Nation’s Largest Need-Based Aid Program," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(8), pages 943-967, December.
    16. Valentina A. Paredes & M. Daniele Paserman & Francisco Pino, 2020. "Does Economics Make You Sexist?," NBER Working Papers 27070, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Cáceres-Delpiano, Julio & Giolito, Eugenio, 2018. "Minimum Age Requirements and the Impact of School Choice," IZA Discussion Papers 11420, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Giné & Maria Guadalupe, 2020. "Price and Probability: Decomposing the Takeover Effects of Anti‐Takeover Provisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2591-2629, October.
    19. Rau, Tomás & Sarzosa, Miguel & Urzúa, Sergio, 2021. "The children of the missed pill," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Gregory Elacqua & Diana Hincapie & Isabel Hincapie & Veronica Montalva, 2022. "Can Financial Incentives Help Disadvantaged Schools to Attract and Retain High‐Performing Teachers? Evidence from Chile," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(2), pages 603-631, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:12:y:2020:i:2:p:193-227. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.