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Understanding Educational Outcomes of Students from Low-Income Families: Evidence from a Liberal Arts College with a Full Tuition Subsidy Program

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  • Ralph Stinebrickner
  • Todd R. Stinebrickner

Abstract

Issues related to schooling attainment of children from low-income families arise frequently in current education policy debates. There has been a specific interest in understanding why a very high percentage of children from low-income families do not graduate from college and why the college graduation rates of children from low-income families are substantially lower than those of children from other families. Using unique new data obtained directly from a high-quality liberal arts college that maintains a full tuition subsidy program (and large room and board subsidies) for all students, this paper provides direct evidence that reasons unrelated to the direct costs of college are very important in explaining these realities.

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  • Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd R. Stinebrickner, 2003. "Understanding Educational Outcomes of Students from Low-Income Families: Evidence from a Liberal Arts College with a Full Tuition Subsidy Program," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:38:y:2003:i:3:p591-617
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    Cited by:

    1. Gong, Yifan & Stinebrickner, Ralph & Stinebrickner, Todd, 2022. "Marriage, children, and labor supply: Beliefs and outcomes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 148-164.
    2. Dominik Sachs & Sebastian Findeisen, 2016. "Optimal Financial Aid Policies for Students," 2016 Meeting Papers 1421, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Diego Restuccia & Carlos Urrutia, 2004. "Intergenerational Persistence of Earnings: The Role of Early and College Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1354-1378, December.
    4. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner & Paul Sullivan, 2019. "Job Tasks, Time Allocation, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 399-433.
    5. Stinebrickner, Ralph & Stinebrickner, Todd R., 2006. "What can be learned about peer effects using college roommates? Evidence from new survey data and students from disadvantaged backgrounds," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1435-1454, September.
    6. Edwards, Rebecca & Gibson, Rachael & Harmon, Colm & Schurer, Stefanie, 2022. "First-in-their-family students at university: Can non-cognitive skills compensate for social origin?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    7. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    8. Todd Stinebrickner & Ralph Stinebrickner, 2012. "Learning about Academic Ability and the College Dropout Decision," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(4), pages 707-748.
    9. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner, 2014. "Academic Performance and College Dropout: Using Longitudinal Expectations Data to Estimate a Learning Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 601-644.
    10. Thomas F. Crossley & Yifan Gong & Todd Stinebrickner & Ralph Stinebrickner, 2021. "Examining Income Expectations in the College and Early Post-College Periods: New Distributional Tests of Rational Expectations," CESifo Working Paper Series 8834, CESifo.
    11. Eckhard Janeba & Alexander Kemnitz & Nick Ehrhart, 2007. "Studiengebühren in Deutschland: Drei Thesen und ihr empirischer Gehalt," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 184-205, March.
    12. Todd Stinebrickner & Ralph Stinebrickner & Paul Sullivan, 2018. "Job Tasks and the Gender Wage Gap among College Graduates," Working Papers 2018-062, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    13. Findeisen, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2015. "Designing efficient college and tax policies," Working Papers 15-09, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    14. Kristin Klopfenstein & M. Kathleen Thomas, 2009. "The Link between Advanced Placement Experience and Early College Success," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(3), pages 873-891, January.
    15. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner & Paul Sullivan, 2019. "Beauty, Job Tasks, and Wages: A New Conclusion about Employer Taste-Based Discrimination," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 602-615, October.
    16. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner, 2008. "The Effect of Credit Constraints on the College Drop-Out Decision: A Direct Approach Using a New Panel Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 2163-2184, December.
    17. Stinebrickner, Ralph & Stinebrickner, T.R.Todd R., 2004. "Time-use and college outcomes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 243-269.
    18. Yifan Gong & Todd Stinebrickner & Ralph Stinebrickner, 2020. "Perceived and actual option values of college enrollment," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 940-959, November.
    19. David A. Green, 2007. "A Cautionary Discussion about Relying on Human Capital Policy to Meet Redistributive Goals," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 33(4), pages 397-418, December.
    20. Edwards, Rebecca & Gibson, Rachael & Harmon, Colm P. & Schurer, Stefanie, 2020. "First in Their Families at University: Can Non-cognitive Skills Compensate for Social Origin?," IZA Discussion Papers 13721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Bulman, George, 2017. "Weighting recent performance to improve college and labor market outcomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 97-108.
    22. Holmgren, Mark & McCracken, Vicki A., 2010. "Identifying Student Success at a Land Grant Institution," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 61701, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    23. Matsuda, Kazushige, 2020. "Optimal timing of college subsidies: Enrollment, graduation, and the skill premium," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    24. William R. Johnson, 2017. "Parties or Problem Sets: Review Article on How College Works and Paying for the Party," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(1), pages 136-147, March.

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