Working Paper: NBER ID: w12064
Authors: Jeffrey Groen; George H. Jakubson; Ronald G. Ehrenberg; Scott Condie; Albert Yunghsu Liu
Abstract: Doctoral programs in the humanities and related social sciences are characterized by high attrition and long times-to-degree. In response to these problems, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation launched the Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) to improve the quality of graduate programs and in turn reduce attrition and shorten times-to-degree. Over a 10-year period starting in 1991, the Foundation provided a total of over $80 million to 51 departments at 10 major research universities. We estimate the impact of the GEI on attrition rates and times-to-degree using competing risk duration models and student-level data. The data span the start of the GEI and include information for students at a set of control departments. We estimate that the GEI had modest impacts on student outcomes in the expected directions: reducing attrition rates, reducing times-to-degree and increasing completion rates. The impacts of the GEI appear to have been driven in part by reductions in entering cohort size, improvements in financial support and increases in student quality.
Keywords: Graduate Education Initiative; PhD Programs; Attrition Rates; Time-to-Degree; Financial Aid
JEL Codes: I2
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) (I23) | reduction in attrition rates (J63) |
| Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) (I23) | increase in completion rates (I24) |
| Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) (I23) | reduction in time-to-degree (C41) |
| reductions in cohort size, improvements in financial aid, and increases in student quality (I24) | reduction in attrition rates (J63) |
| more generous financial aid (I22) | reduction in attrition rates (J63) |