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Beyond the enrolment gap: Financial barriers and high-achieving, low-income students' persistence in higher education

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  • Gustave Kenedi

Abstract

Little is known about what influences high-achieving, low-income students' persistence in higher education, despite extensive work on their enrolment decision. This paper investigates the role of credit constraints. Using exhaustive administrative data for France, I estimate the impact of automatically granting generous additional aid to enrolled high-achieving, low-income students. Eligibility is communicated too late to affect initial enrolment, allowing me to recover the pure effect on the intensive margin. I find this aid had precisely estimated null effects on persistence, graduation, and did not induce switches to higher quality degrees. This suggests non-financial factors largely explain these students' observed attrition.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustave Kenedi, 2024. "Beyond the enrolment gap: Financial barriers and high-achieving, low-income students' persistence in higher education," CEP Discussion Papers dp1987, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1987
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    Keywords

    financial aid; higher education; high-achieving low-income students;
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