scholarly journals Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Dynarski
Keyword(s):  
College Attendance ◽  
Student Aid

A Model of College Selection

1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-380
Author(s):  
Sophie Korczyk
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
College Choice ◽  
Family Income ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
College Selection ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Direct Student ◽  
The Stability

This article presents a policy-oriented microeconomics model of college selection by undergraduates. The data base is detailed information on 1,008 college students. College choice is explained as demand for a multifaceted commodity bundle which is the institution. Demand is a function of the student's ability, family income, and the prices and aid offers of the schools in the student's opportunity set. The sample was stratified by income class to lest for the stability of coefficients across income groups. The model yields predictions concerning the effects of recent federal legislation and of the Carter educational finance initiative on college attendance. Direct student aid is found to be far less effective than price cuts in increasing the range of schools financially accessible to lower- and middle-income students.

Money, Equity, and College Access

1992 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Orfield
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
College Access ◽  
Low Income ◽  
College Education ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
Poor Students ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, Gary Orfield explores the nature of the relationship between money and access to college, particularly for minority and poor students. Decades after a massive federal government commitment to making a college education available to all, Orfield contends, minority and low-income access is declining, and financial aid is going to middle-class students who could manage without it. Orfield relates how the goal of making higher education accessible to all got sidetracked as he chronicles the policy debate over student aid through the 1980s and early 1990s. He tells a story of political opportunism, insufficient outreach, bureaucratic insensitivity, and a failure to distinguish cultural differences with regard to borrowing — a story of institutions and faculties protecting themselves through tuition increases without seriously debating social consequences. It is not, however,a story of declining interest in, or aptitude for, college among low-income and minority students. Orfield shows a substantial link between dollars and college attendance, and examines policies that have clearly made things worse for those most in need of assistance — policies that are nevertheless maintained because of political deadlock. He concludes that hard choices must be made if college access is to be restored without greatly increased expenditures, and he then delineates those choices.

The Role of Application Assistance and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block Fafsa Experiment*

2012 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 1205-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric P. Bettinger ◽  
Bridget Terry Long ◽  
Philip Oreopoulos ◽  
Lisa Sanbonmatsu
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
College Attendance ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
Application Process ◽  
Personal Assistance ◽  
College Going ◽  
Randomized Field Experiment ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Information Treatment

Abstract Growing concerns about low awareness and take-up rates for government support programs like college financial aid have spurred calls to simplify the application process and enhance visibility. We present results from a randomized field experiment in which low-income individuals receiving tax preparation help were also offered immediate assistance and a streamlined process to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for themselves or their children. Treated participants were also provided with aid estimates that were compared against tuition cost amounts for nearby colleges. The combined assistance and information treatment substantially increased FAFSA submissions and ultimately the likelihood of college attendance, persistence, and aid receipt. In particular, high school seniors whose parents received the treatment were 8 percentage points more likely to have completed two years of college, going from 28% to 36%, during the first three years following the experiment. Families who received aid information but no assistance with the FAFSA did not experience improved outcomes. The findings suggest many other opportunities for using personal assistance to increase participation in programs that require filling out forms to become eligible.

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