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HOPE for community college students: The impact of merit aid on persistence, graduation, and earnings

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  • Welch, Jilleah G.

Abstract

Community colleges play a major role in postsecondary education, yet previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on four-year students rather than two-year students. Furthermore, researchers have focused on the impact of merit aid on enrollment and outcomes during college, but to my knowledge, none have yet considered the impact of aid on earnings after college. This paper utilizes discontinuities in eligibility criteria for a large merit scholarship to examine the local impact of aid on student outcomes both during college and after college. The findings suggest that reducing the cost of community college does not impact persistence, academic performance, degree completion, expected earnings, or short-term earnings after college for marginally eligible students.

Suggested Citation

  • Welch, Jilleah G., 2014. "HOPE for community college students: The impact of merit aid on persistence, graduation, and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-20.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:43:y:2014:i:c:p:1-20
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.08.001
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    Cited by:

    1. Estelle Herbaut & Koen Geven, 2019. "What Works to Reduce Inequalities in Higher Education? A Systematic Review of the (Quasi-)Experimental Literature on Outreach and Financial Aid," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/527ht1a96e8, Sciences Po.
    2. Christopher Erwin, 2019. "Low-performing student responses to state merit scholarships," Working Papers 2019-02, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    3. Celeste K. Carruthers & Christopher Jepsen, 2020. "Vocational Education: An International Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 8718, CESifo.
    4. Wright, Nicholas A., 2021. "Need-based financing policies, college decision-making, and labor market behavior: Evidence from Jamaica," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Nguyen, Hieu, 2020. "Free college? Assessing enrollment responses to the Tennessee Promise program," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/527ht1a96e837pq2dubgo2953q is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Estelle Herbaut & Koen Geven, 2019. "What Works to Reduce Inequalities in Higher Education? A Systematic Review of the (Quasi-)Experimental Literature on Outreach and Financial Aid," Working Papers hal-03456943, HAL.
    8. Hieu Nguyen, 2019. "Free tuition and college enrollment: evidence from New York’s Excelsior program," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 573-587, November.
    9. David Sjoquist & John Winters, 2015. "The effect of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship on college major: a focus on STEM," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, December.
    10. Christopher Erwin & Melissa Binder, 2020. "Does Broad-Based Merit Aid Improve College Completion? Evidence from New Mexico's Lottery Scholarship," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(1), pages 164-190, Winter.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education policy; Higher education; Financial aid; Community college;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies

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