IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/uhejxx/v94y2023i7p921-944.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seeking STEM: The Causal Impact of Need-Based Grant Aid on Undergraduates’ Field of Study

Author

Listed:
  • Drew M. Anderson
  • Katharine M. Broton
  • David B. Monaghan

Abstract

Increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees is a national priority and one way to promote the socioeconomic mobility of students from low-income families. Prior research examining why students do not complete STEM majors often points to students’ lack of academic preparation, preferences for non-STEM majors, or lack of information about the value of STEM. This paper uses a randomized experiment to investigate an alternative explanation, that some students lack the financial resources to succeed in demanding majors. In a control group of university students from low-income families, 18.6% of students had declared a STEM major by their third year of college. In a treatment group who were offered additional need-based grant aid upon entering college, 26.5% of students declared a STEM major. Among students who had graduated within six years after entering college, 12.2% of control group graduates had earned a STEM degree compared to 20.2% of treatment group students. Need-based grants thus appear to have the potential to increase the share of low-income students studying and earning degrees in STEM.

Suggested Citation

  • Drew M. Anderson & Katharine M. Broton & David B. Monaghan, 2023. "Seeking STEM: The Causal Impact of Need-Based Grant Aid on Undergraduates’ Field of Study," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(7), pages 921-944, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:uhejxx:v:94:y:2023:i:7:p:921-944
    DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2023.2209003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00221546.2023.2209003
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00221546.2023.2209003?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.

    More about this item

    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:taf:uhejxx:v:94:y:2023:i:7:p:921-944. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/uhej .

    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.