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Raising Aspirations and Higher Education: Evidence from the United Kingdom’s Widening Participation Policy

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  • Lucia Rizzica

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between aspirations and inequality in higher education participation. Using a regression discontinuity design, I evaluate the impact of a national-scale United Kingdom policy aimed at raising the aspirations toward college education of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds by involving them in outreach activities. The results show that the policy successfully raised the aspirations of the target students and their participation in postcompulsory education. However, its final effect on college enrollment was on the whole negligible, thus casting doubt on the effectiveness of policies that uniquely leverage aspirations to reduce inequality in educational attainment.

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  • Lucia Rizzica, 2020. "Raising Aspirations and Higher Education: Evidence from the United Kingdom’s Widening Participation Policy," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 183-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/704571
    DOI: 10.1086/704571
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    Cited by:

    1. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2021. "Gender and Educational Achievement: Stylized Facts and Causal Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 14074, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Hassani-Nezhad, Lena & Anderberg, Dan & Chevalier, Arnaud & Lührmann, Melanie & Pavan, Ronni, 2021. "Higher education financing and the educational aspirations of teenagers and their parents," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Mari, Gabriele, 2022. "Parental unemployment and children's education: A note on the very small role of aspirations," SocArXiv xzs8r, Center for Open Science.
    4. Gehrke, Esther & Lenel, Friederike & Schupp, Claudia, 2022. "Interest exploration and investments in education: Experimental evidence from Cambodia," OSF Preprints k6tqr, Center for Open Science.
    5. Lekfuangfu, Warn N. & Odermatt, Reto, 2022. "All I have to do is dream? The role of aspirations in intergenerational mobility and well-being," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Esther Gehrke & Friederike Lenel & Claudia Schupp, 2023. "Occupational Aspirations and Investments in Education: Experimental Evidence from Cambodia," CESifo Working Paper Series 10608, CESifo.
    7. Yuta Kuroda, 2023. "What do high-achieving graduates bring to nonacademic track high schools?," DSSR Discussion Papers 138, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.
    8. Jeffrey R. Bloem, 2021. "Aspirations and investments in rural Myanmar," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 727-752, December.
    9. Jetnipit Kunchai & Dissakoon Chonsalasin & Buratin Khampirat, 2021. "Psychometric Properties and a Multiple Indicators Multiple Cause Model of the Career Aspiration Scale with College Students of Rural Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.

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