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Going, going, gone: the effects of aid policies on graduation at three large public institutions

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Author Info
Larry Singell ()
Mark Stater ()
Abstract

This paper exploits uniquely detailed data and cross-institution variation in aid for three large public universities to identify the effects of aid on the probability of college graduation. The results indicate that need-based and merit-based aid both increase graduation rates at large public institutions, but primarily through the types of students that ‘select’ these institutions. Merit-based aid facilitates an institution attracting students who have higher observed academic ability that raises the probability of graduation. Need-based aid enables an institution to attract students with non-academic attributes such as social and cultural networks that, while often unobserved, improve graduation success. Broadly, our results suggest that recent aid policy that has moved away from need-based aid for low-income students (reducing their ability to find the best institutional match) and toward merit-based aid (that alters the distribution of high ability students across colleges) could foster stagnant graduation rates even with rising enrollment rates that have been observed over the last three decades. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLP 2006

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11077-006-9030-7
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Policy Sciences.

Volume (Year): 39 (2006)
Issue (Month): 4 (December)
Pages: 379-403
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Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:39:y:2006:i:4:p:379-403

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Related research
Keywords: Higher education policy; Economics of education; Financial aid; College enrollment; College completion;

References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
  2. Venti, Steven F. & Wise, David A., 1983. "Individual attributes and self-selection of higher education : College attendance versus college completion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 1-32, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. John Bound & Sarah Turner, 2002. "Going to War and Going to College: Did World War II and the G.I. Bill Increase Educational Attainment for Returning Veterans?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 784-815, October. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Boyd, Laura A., 1997. "Discrimination in mortgage lending: The impact on minority defaults in the Stafford Loan program," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 23-37. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. DesJardins, S. L. & Ahlburg, D. A. & McCall, B. P., 1999. "An event history model of student departure," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 375-390, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Schwartz, J. Brad, 1985. "Student financial aid and the college enrollment decision: the effects of public and private grants and interest subsidies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 129-144, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Hungerford, Thomas & Solon, Gary, 1987. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 175-77, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Susan M. Dynarski, 1999. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion," NBER Working Papers 7422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Wilbert van der Klaauw, 2002. "Estimating the Effect of Financial Aid Offers on College Enrollment: A Regression-Discontinuity Approach," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1249-1287, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Robst, John & Keil, Jack & Russo, Dean, 1998. "The effect of gender composition of faculty on student retention," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 429-439, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Eric Bettinger, 2004. "How Financial Aid Affects Persistence," NBER Working Papers 10242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Thomas J. Kane, 2003. "A Quasi-Experimental Estimate of the Impact of Financial Aid on College-Going," NBER Working Papers 9703, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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