Working Paper: NBER ID: w23015
Authors: Joshua Angrist; David Autor; Sally Hudson; Amanda Pallais
Abstract: This paper reports updated findings from a randomized evaluation of a generous, privately-funded scholarship program for Nebraska public college students. Scholarship offers boosted college enrollment and persistence. Four years after award receipt, randomly-selected scholarship winners were 13 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in college. Enrollment effects were larger for groups with historically low college attendance, including nonwhite students, first-generation college-goers, and students with low high school GPAs. Scholarships shifted many students from two- to four-year colleges, reducing associate’s degree completion in the process. Despite their substantial gains in four-year college enrollment, award winners from the first study cohort were slightly less likely to graduate on time than control applicants, suggesting that scholarships delay degree completion for some students. Projected graduation rates using the last cohort of pre-experimental scholarship applicants indicate that scholarships are likely to increase bachelor’s degree completion within five years.
Keywords: scholarship; college enrollment; degree completion; randomized controlled trial
JEL Codes: I21; I22; I23; I24; I28; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Scholarship offers (I22) | College enrollment (I23) |
| Scholarship offers (I22) | Enrollment gaps for historically underrepresented groups (I24) |
| Scholarship offers (I22) | Associates degree completion (Y80) |
| Scholarship recipients (I23) | On-time graduation (I21) |
| Scholarship offers (I22) | Bachelor's degree completion within five years (M59) |