IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17879.html

Improving First-Generation College Students’ Education and Employment Outcomes: Effects of a Targeted Scholarship Program

Author

Listed:
  • Annadurai, Gopinath

    (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore)

  • Sahoo, Soham

    (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore)

Abstract

We evaluate the First-Generation Graduate Scholarship scheme implemented in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which waives tuition fees for first-generation college students in technical education. Using household survey data in difference-in-differences (DiD) and synthetic DiD frameworks, we find substantial improvements in enrollment, stream choice, and graduation in technical courses, with downstream effects on regular employment, occupational choices, and household welfare. Male students gained more than female students. The scheme also increased reliance on education loans to cover residual costs. Our findings highlight how targeting intergenerational disadvantages through education policy can influence educational choices and produce positive labour market returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Annadurai, Gopinath & Sahoo, Soham, 2025. "Improving First-Generation College Students’ Education and Employment Outcomes: Effects of a Targeted Scholarship Program," IZA Discussion Papers 17879, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17879.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ehl:lserod:120699 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Sonalde Desai & Veena Kulkarni, 2008. "Changing educational inequalities in india in the context of affirmative action," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(2), pages 245-270, May.
    3. Adler, Katharina & Kosse, Fabian & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2025. "Earnings expectations of “First-in Family” university students and their role for major choice," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    4. Sripad Motiram & Ashish Singh, 2012. "How close does the apple fall to the tree? Some evidence on intergenerational occupational mobility from India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2012-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    5. Viktoria Hnatkovska & Amartya Lahiri & Sourabh B. Paul, 2013. "Breaking the Caste Barrier: Intergenerational Mobility in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(2), pages 435-473.
    6. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2018. "Returns to investment in education: a decennial review of the global literature," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 445-458, September.
    7. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Henderson, Morag & Shure, Nikki, 2020. "Is ‘first in family’ a good indicator for widening university participation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Terry T. Ishitani, 2006. "Studying Attrition and Degree Completion Behavior among First-Generation College Students in the United States," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(5), pages 861-885, September.
    9. Mehtabul Azam & Vipul Bhatt, 2015. "Like Father, Like Son? Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(6), pages 1929-1959, December.
    10. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Estimating the social return to higher education: evidence from longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 175-212.
    11. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    12. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop, 2013. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of growth: The case of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 303-320.
    13. Anustup Kundu & Kunal Sen, 2023. "Multigenerational Mobility Among Males in India," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(2), pages 395-418, June.
    14. Miles Corak, 2013. "Income Inequality, Equality of Opportunity, and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 79-102, Summer.
    15. M. Shahe Emran & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Yajing Jiang & Yan Sun, 2023. "Occupational dualism and intergenerational educational mobility in the rural economy: evidence from China and India," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 743-773, September.
    16. Raj Chetty & Will Dobbie & Benjamin Goldman & Sonya R. Porter & Crystal S. Yang, 2024. "Changing Opportunity: Sociological Mechanisms Underlying Growing Class Gaps and Shrinking Race Gaps in Economic Mobility," Working Papers 24-38, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Sarkar, Sudipa & Chakravorty, Bhaskar & Lyonette, Clare, 2020. "Social Identity and Aspiration - Double Jeopardy or Intersectionality? Evidence from Rural India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 724, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    19. Mangal, Kunal, 2024. "The long-run costs of highly competitive exams for government jobs," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    20. Shure, Nikki & Zierow, Larissa, 2023. "High Achieving First-Generation University Students," IZA Discussion Papers 16654, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Sripad Motiram & Ashish Singh, 2012. "How Close Does the Apple Fall to the Tree?: Some Evidence on Intergenerational Occupational Mobility from India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-101, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    22. Sam Asher & Paul Novosad & Charlie Rafkin, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility in India: New Measures and Estimates across Time and Social Groups," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 66-98, April.
    23. Alberto Abadie, 2021. "Using Synthetic Controls: Feasibility, Data Requirements, and Methodological Aspects," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 391-425, June.
    24. Kelley, Erin M. & Ksoll, Christopher & Magruder, Jeremy, 2024. "How do digital platforms affect employment and job search? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    25. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner, 2014. "Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 141-147, May.
    26. Sripad Motiram & Ashish Singh, 2012. "How close does the apple fall to the tree? Some evidence on intergenerational occupational mobility from India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2012-017, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    27. Damian Clarke & Daniel Paila~nir & Susan Athey & Guido Imbens, 2023. "Synthetic Difference In Differences Estimation," Papers 2301.11859, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2023.
    28. Anna Stansbury & Robert Schultz, 2023. "The Economics Profession's Socioeconomic Diversity Problem," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 207-230, Fall.
    29. Stephan Klasen & Janneke Pieters, 2015. "What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 449-478.
    30. Anand Kumar & Soham Sahoo, 2024. "Caste, gender, and intersectionality in stream choice: evidence from higher secondary education in India," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 20-46, January.
    31. Dmitry Arkhangelsky & Susan Athey & David A. Hirshberg & Guido W. Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2021. "Synthetic Difference-in-Differences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(12), pages 4088-4118, December.
    32. Gary R. Pike & George D. Kuh, 2005. "First- and Second-Generation College Students: A Comparison of Their Engagement and Intellectual Development," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 276-300, May.
    33. Sarkar, Sudipa & Sahoo, Soham & Klasen, Stephan, 2019. "Employment transitions of women in India: A panel analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 291-309.
    34. van der Weide, Roy & Lakner, Christoph & Mahler, Daniel Gerszon & Narayan, Ambar & Gupta, Rakesh, 2024. "Intergenerational mobility around the world: A new database," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    35. Sánchez, Alan & Singh, Abhijeet, 2018. "Accessing higher education in developing countries: Panel data analysis from India, Peru, and Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 261-278.
    36. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    37. Duflo, Esther & Dupas, Pascaline & Spelke, Elizabeth & Walsh, Mark, 2024. "Intergenerational Impacts of Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana," CEPR Discussion Papers 19345, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    38. Lee A. Lillard & Robert J. Willis, 1994. "Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Effects of Family and State in Malaysia," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 1126-1166.
    39. Bertrand, Marianne & Hanna, Rema & Mullainathan, Sendhil, 2010. "Affirmative action in education: Evidence from engineering college admissions in India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 16-29, February.
    40. Anna Adamecz-Völgyi & Morag Henderson & Nikki Shure, 2023. "The labor market returns to “first-in-family” university graduates," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1395-1429, July.
    41. Basant, Rakesh & Sen, Gitanjali, 2014. "Parental Education as a Criterion for Affirmative Action in Higher Education," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 803-814.
    42. Seema Jayachandran, 2015. "The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 63-88, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Reddy, A. Bheemeshwar, 2015. "Changes in Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in India: Evidence from National Sample Surveys, 1983–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 329-343.
    2. Kishan P K V, 2018. "Is the Past Still Holding Us Back? A Study on Intergenerational Education Mobility in India (revised as on 26.09.18)," IIMA Working Papers WP 2018-01-03, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    3. Sandhya R. Mahapatro & Renu Choudhary, 2022. "Intergenerational educational and occupational mobility among scheduled castes in rural Bihar," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(1), pages 65-84, June.
    4. Anjan R. Chaudhury & Madhabendra Sinha, 2022. "Persistence of intergroup occupational disparity in India," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 437-467, December.
    5. Manasi Bera & Amaresh Dubey, 2020. "Structure and Changes in Household Income and Employment Across Social Groups in Rural India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(2), pages 407-435, June.
    6. Manasi Bera & Amaresh Dubey, 0. "Structure and Changes in Household Income and Employment Across Social Groups in Rural India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 0, pages 1-29.
    7. M. Shahe Emran & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Yajing Jiang & Yan Sun, 2023. "Occupational dualism and intergenerational educational mobility in the rural economy: evidence from China and India," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 743-773, September.
    8. Nawazuddin Ahmed & Dinesh K. Nauriyal, 2023. "Occupational and Educational Mobility Among Indian Muslims: Primary Survey-Based Evidence," Millennial Asia, , vol. 14(2), pages 228-259, June.
    9. Siddiqui, Laeek Ahemad & Goswami, Puja, 2024. "Tracing the educational journey of Indian women across generations: A study of multigenerational education mobility in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Dhiman Das, 2019. "Academic Resilience Among Children from Disadvantaged Social Groups in India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 719-739, September.
    11. Tamalika Lodh & Poulomi Roy & Malabika Roy, 2021. "Intergenerational occupational mobility in India across social groups," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 405-433, December.
    12. Vegard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2016. "Rags to riches? Intergenerational occupational mobility in India," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 042016, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    13. begard Iversen & Anirudh Krishna & Kunal Sen, 2017. "Beyond poverty escapes – social mobility in the Global South: A survey article," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 172017, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    14. Laeek Ahemad Siddiqui & Namrata Shokeen, 2024. "Women and Intergenerational Mobility in Education: A Micro-Level Study from Weavers’ Community of Varanasi, India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 219-237, March.
    15. Majumder, Rajarshi & Ray, Jhilam, 2016. "Development and Exclusion: Intergenerational Stickiness in India," MPRA Paper 71182, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Azam, Mehtabul, 2013. "Intergenerational Occupational Mobility in India," IZA Discussion Papers 7608, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 51-70.
    18. Vinay Reddy Venumuddala, 2020. "Determinants of occupational mobility within the social stratification structure in India," Papers 2005.06802, arXiv.org.
    19. Nawazuddin Ahmed & D. K. Nauriyal, 2024. "The Impact of Parents’ Educational and Occupational Footprints on Children: Evidence From India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 19(1), pages 7-43, April.
    20. Gaurav Khanna, 2020. "Does Affirmative Action Incentivize Schooling? Evidence from India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 219-233, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp17879. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.