IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v30y2011i5p1022-1033.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Keeping up with the Joneses: Institutional changes following the adoption of a merit aid policy

Author

Listed:
  • Griffith, Amanda L.

Abstract

The increasing use by private colleges and universities of financial aid based on "merit", as opposed to based solely on financial need has caused many to raise concerns that this type of aid will go mainly to higher income students crowding out aid to lower income students. However, some analysts suggest that by attracting more "almost full-paying" students through the use of merit aid, institutions will have more financial resources that they can use to increase their financial aid to low-income students and thus their enrollment. Results using data from the College Board's Annual Survey of Colleges and other secondary data sources suggest that the increased use of merit aid is associated with a decrease in enrollment of low-income and minority students, particularly at more selective institutions. Middle and bottom tier colleges may be offsetting costs with tuition increases, as the introduction of merit aid is accompanied by an increase in net costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Griffith, Amanda L., 2011. "Keeping up with the Joneses: Institutional changes following the adoption of a merit aid policy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1022-1033, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:30:y:2011:i:5:p:1022-1033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775711000732
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Liang Zhang, 2005. "Do Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(3).
    2. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Daniel R. Sherman, 1984. "Optimal Financial Aid Policies for a Selective University," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 19(2), pages 202-230.
    3. Monks, James, 2009. "The impact of merit-based financial aid on college enrollment: A field experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 99-106, February.
    4. Rothschild, Michael & White, Lawrence J, 1995. "The Analytics of the Pricing of Higher Education and Other Services in Which the Customers Are Inputs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 573-586, June.
    5. Singell, Larry D, Jr & Stone, Joe A, 2002. "The Good, the Poor and the Wealthy: Who Responds Most to College Financial Aid?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 393-407, October.
    6. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Holger Sieg, 2006. "Admission, Tuition, and Financial Aid Policies in the Market for Higher Education," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 885-928, July.
    7. Griffith, Amanda & Rask, Kevin, 2007. "The influence of the US News and World Report collegiate rankings on the matriculation decision of high-ability students: 1995-2004," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 244-255, April.
    8. Gordon C. Winston, 1999. "Subsidies, Hierarchy and Peers: The Awkward Economics of Higher Education," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 13-36, Winter.
    9. Albert Yung-Hsu Liu & Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Jesenka Mrdjenovic, 2007. "Diffusion of Common Application Membership and Admissions Outcomes at American Colleges and Universities," NBER Working Papers 13175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Liang Zhang & Jared Levin, 2005. "Crafting A Class: The Trade Off Between Merit Scholarships and Enrolling Lower-Income Students," NBER Working Papers 11437, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Baum, Sandra R. & Schwartz, Saul, 1988. "Merit aid to college students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 127-134, February.
    12. Bridget Terry Long, 2004. "How do Financial Aid Policies Affect Colleges?: The Institutional Impact of the Georgia HOPE Scholarship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(4).
    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. David E. Frisvold & Melinda Pitts, 2018. "State Merit Aid Programs and Youth Labor Market Attachment," NBER Working Papers 24662, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ozan Jaquette & Edna Parra, 2016. "The Problem with the Delta Cost Project Database," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(5), pages 630-651, August.
    3. Jonathan Smith & Matea Pender & Jessica Howell, 2018. "Competition among Colleges for Students across the Nation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 849-878, January.
    4. Beth Mintz, 2021. "Neoliberalism and the Crisis in Higher Education: The Cost of Ideology," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(1), pages 79-112, January.
    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. Eun Jeong Heo, 2023. "Financial aid in college admissions: need-based versus merit-based," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(1), pages 265-297, January.

    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. Kolpin, Van & Stater, Mark, 2024. "The perverse equilibrium effects of state and federal student aid in higher education," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 679-691.
    2. Shao, Ling, 2014. "Estimating the relationship between calculated financial need and actual aid received using quarter of birth instruments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 165-174.
    3. Joan Rosselló Villalonga, 2013. "Stratification of Public Universities and Students’ Segregation," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 205(2), pages 99-124, June.
    4. Kaganovich, Michael & Sarpca, Sinan & Su, Xuejuan, 2020. "Competition in Higher Education," Working Papers 2020-3, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    5. Ann M. Gansemer‐Topf & Peter F. Orazem & Darin R. Wohlgemuth, 2021. "Do liberal arts colleges maximize profit?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(1), pages 274-294, July.
    6. Kim, Matthew, 2010. "Early decision and financial aid competition among need-blind colleges and universities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(5-6), pages 410-420, June.
    7. Christopher Avery & Caroline Minter Hoxby, 2004. "Do and Should Financial Aid Packages Affect Students' College Choices?," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 239-302, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Ehrenberg, R.G.Ronald G., 2004. "Econometric studies of higher education," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 19-37.
    9. Hidalgo-Hidalgo Marisa & Valera Guadalupe, 2016. "University Merging Process: A Guideline Proposal for Excellence-Enhancing," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(3), pages 1359-1386, September.
    10. Vincenzo Andrietti & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "Education curriculum and student achievement: theory and evidence," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 4-19, January.
    11. Elizabeth Becker & Cotton M. Lindsay & Gary Grizzle, 2003. "The derived demand for faculty research," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 549-567.
    12. 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.
    13. Dan Farhat, 2011. "Bookworms versus Party Animals: An Artificial Labor Market with Human and Social Capital Accumulation," Working Papers 1103, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised May 2011.
    14. Chao Fu, 2014. "Equilibrium Tuition, Applications, Admissions, and Enrollment in the College Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(2), pages 225-281.
    15. Su, Xuejuan & Kaganovich, Michael, 2012. "College Expansion and Curriculum Choice," Working Papers 2012-25, University of Alberta, Department of Economics, revised 01 Apr 2015.
    16. Pablo A. Peña, 2010. "Pricing in the Not-for-Profit Sector: Can Wealth Growth at American Colleges Explain Chronic Tuition Increases?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages 242-273.
    17. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:9:y:2005:i:6:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Aaron Hedlund & Grey Gordon, 2017. "Accounting for Tuition Increases at U.S. Colleges," 2017 Meeting Papers 1550, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Michael Kaganovich & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "College curriculum, diverging selectivity, and enrollment expansion," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(4), pages 1019-1050, June.
    20. Caroline M. Hoxby, 2009. "The Changing Selectivity of American Colleges," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 95-118, Fall.
    21. Turner, Nicholas, 2012. "Who benefits from student aid? The economic incidence of tax-based federal student aid," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 463-481.

    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:eee:ecoedu:v:30:y:2011:i:5:p:1022-1033. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    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.