IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v60y2019i1d10.1007_s11162-018-9505-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of State Higher Education Policies and Institutions on Access by Economically Disadvantaged Students

Author

Listed:
  • Robert C. Lowry

    (The University of Texas at Dallas)

Abstract

Do state government policies and institutions promote access to postsecondary education by economically disadvantaged students? I analyze the number of state residents receiving federal Pell grants relative to the college-age population raised in low-income households. Using data for 1993–2008, I estimate separate models for total Pell recipients and for those enrolled in public, private nonprofit, and proprietary institutions. I find consistent evidence that state spending on both need- and merit-based financial aid enhances access by economically disadvantaged students, with the effects of need-based aid being larger and more robust than those of aid based at least in part on merit. I also find that students in states with consolidated governing boards have slightly greater access to public and nonprofit institutions than those with statewide coordinating boards. Enrollment by economically disadvantaged students in the public and proprietary sectors also responds to the opportunity costs of attending college, as measured by the state unemployment rate. I do not find evidence of direct effects from state policies limiting affirmative action, or political elites’ ideology.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert C. Lowry, 2019. "The Effects of State Higher Education Policies and Institutions on Access by Economically Disadvantaged Students," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(1), pages 44-63, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:60:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11162-018-9505-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-018-9505-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-018-9505-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-018-9505-3?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Cornwell & David B. Mustard & Deepa J. Sridhar, 2006. "The Enrollment Effects of Merit-Based Financial Aid: Evidence from Georgia's HOPE Program," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(4), pages 761-786, October.
    2. Raven Molloy & Christopher L. Smith & Abigail Wozniak, 2011. "Internal Migration in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 173-196, Summer.
    3. Ozan Jaquette & Bradley R. Curs & Julie R. Posselt, 2016. "Tuition Rich, Mission Poor: Nonresident Enrollment Growth and the Socioeconomic and Racial Composition of Public Research Universities," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(5), pages 635-673, September.
    4. Berger, Mark C. & Kostal, Thomas, 2002. "Financial resources, regulation, and enrollment in US public higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 101-110, April.
    5. Caroline M. Hoxby, 1997. "How the Changing Market Structure of U.S. Higher Education Explains College Tuition," NBER Working Papers 6323, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jack H. Knott & A. Abigail Payne, 2004. "The impact of state governance structures on management and performance of public organizations: A study of higher education institutions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 13-30.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jeffrey A. Groen, 2011. "Building Knowledge Stocks Locally," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 316-329, November.
    2. David L. Sjoquist & John V. Winters, 2016. "The Effects of State Merit Aid Programs on Attendance at Elite Colleges," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 527-549, October.
    3. Tommaso Agasisti & Ekaterina Shibanova, 2020. "Autonomy, Performance And Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis Of Russian Universities 2014-2018," HSE Working papers WP BRP 224/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Waddell, Glen R. & Singell Jr., Larry D., 2011. "Do no-loan policies change the matriculation patterns of low-income students?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 203-214, April.
    5. Dennis A. Kramer & Justin C. Ortagus & T. Austin Lacy, 2018. "Tuition-Setting Authority and Broad-Based Merit Aid: The Effect of Policy Intersection on Pricing Strategies," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 489-518, June.
    6. Sjoquist, David L. & Winters, John V., 2013. "The effects of HOPE on post-college retention in the Georgia workforce," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 479-490.
    7. Gregory B. Upton, 2016. "The Effects of Merit-Based Scholarships on Educational Outcomes," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 235-261, June.
    8. Nora Gordon & Sarah Reber, 2018. "The effects of school desegregation on mixed-race births," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 561-596, April.
    9. Shaun A. Golding & Richelle L. Winkler, 2020. "Tracking Urbanization and Exurbs: Migration Across the Rural–Urban Continuum, 1990–2016," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(5), pages 835-859, October.
    10. Eveline S. van Leeuwen & Viktor A. Venhorst, 2021. "Do households prefer to move up or down the urban hierarchy during an economic crisis?," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 263-289, April.
    11. Hicran Celikyay, 2017. "The Studies Through Smart Cities Model:The Case of Istanbul," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 6(1), pages 149-163, January.
    12. Damgaard, Mette Trier & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 2018. "Nudging in education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 313-342.
    13. Furtado, Delia & Kong, Haiyang, 2021. "How Do Low-Skilled Immigrants Adjust to Chinese Import Shocks? Evidence Using English Language Proficiency," IZA Discussion Papers 14152, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Kristiina Huttunen & Jarle Møen & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2018. "Job Loss and Regional Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 479-509.
    15. Scott Carrell & Bruce Sacerdote, 2017. "Why Do College-Going Interventions Work?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 124-151, July.
    16. Noel D. Campbell & Frank Smith, 2009. "Merit-Based Scholarship ``Over-Awards'' and Home Prices," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(2), pages 198-216, March.
    17. Seonghee Min & Saheum Hong, 2021. "Fighting the wrong battle: the effects of immigrant inflows on domestic migration of natives versus settled immigrants in the USA," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 66(1), pages 57-74, February.
    18. Modestino, Alicia Sasser & Dennett, Julia, 2013. "Are American homeowners locked into their houses? The impact of housing market conditions on state-to-state migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 322-337.
    19. Garey Ramey & Valerie A. Ramey, 2010. "The Rug Rat Race," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 41(1 (Spring), pages 129-199.
    20. Mangum, Kyle & Molloy, Raven, 2021. "Migration and Housing special issue: Introduction from Editors Kyle Mangum and Raven Molloy," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    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:spr:reihed:v:60:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11162-018-9505-3. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.