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

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  • Kenedi, Gustave

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

  • Kenedi, Gustave, 2024. "Beyond the enrolment gap: financial barriers and high-achieving, low-income students' persistence in higher education," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126824, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:126824
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial aid; higher education; high-achieving low-income students;
    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
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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