IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/60603.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Money for nothing: estimating the impact of student aid on participation in higher education

Author

Listed:
  • Dearden, Lorraine
  • Fitzsimons, Emla
  • Wyness, Gill

Abstract

Understanding how higher education (HE) finance policy can affect HE decisions is important for understanding how governments can promote human capital accumulation. Yet there is a severe lack of evidence on the effectiveness of student aid in encouraging HE participation outside of the US, and none at all for the UK. This paper exploits a reform that took place in the UK in 2004, when maintenance grants were introduced for students from low income families, having been abolished since 1999. This reform occurred in isolation of any other policy changes, and did not affect students from relatively better off families, making them a potential control group. We use a difference-in-difference framework to estimate the effect of the reform on HE undergraduate participation. We find a positive impact of maintenance grants, with a £1000 increase in grants leading to a 3.95 percentage point increase in participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Dearden, Lorraine & Fitzsimons, Emla & Wyness, Gill, 2014. "Money for nothing: estimating the impact of student aid on participation in higher education," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60603, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60603/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haroon Chowdry & Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Alissa Goodman & Anna Vignoles, 2013. "Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(2), pages 431-457, February.
    2. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post--secondary Schooling," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 705-734, October.
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:3250 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Susan M. Dynarski, 2003. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 279-288, March.
    5. Jo Blanden & Stephen Machin, 2013. "Educational Inequality and The Expansion of UK Higher Education," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(5), pages 578-596, November.
    6. Lorraine Dearden & Emla Fitzsimons & Alissa Goodman & Greg Kaplan, 2008. "Higher Education Funding Reforms in England: The Distributional Effects and the Shifting Balance of Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(526), pages 100-125, February.
    7. Kane, Thomas J, 1994. "College Entry by Blacks since 1970: The Role of College Costs, Family Background, and the Returns to Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 878-911, October.
    8. McPherson, Michael S & Schapiro, Morton Owen, 1991. "Does Student Aid Affect College Enrollment? New Evidence on a Persistent Controversy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 309-318, March.
    9. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Torben Sørensen & Christopher Taber, 2010. "Estimating the Effect of Student Aid on College Enrollment: Evidence from a Government Grant Policy Reform," NBER Chapters, in: Income Taxation, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 185-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Neil S. Seftor & NSarah E. Turner, 2002. "Back to School: Federal Student Aid Policy and Adult College Enrollment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 37(2), pages 336-352.
    11. Hemelt, Steven W. & Marcotte, Dave E., 2008. "Rising Tuition and Enrollment in Public Higher Education," IZA Discussion Papers 3827, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Dynarski, Susan, 2000. "Hope for Whom? Financial Aid for the Middle Class and Its Impact on College Attendance," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 53(3), pages 629-662, September.
    13. Thomas J. Kane, 1995. "Rising Public College Tuition and College Entry: How Well Do Public Subsidies Promote Access to College?," NBER Working Papers 5164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Barr, Nicholas & Crawford, Iain, 1998. "The Dearing Report and the government's response : a critique," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 283, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lorraine Dearden & Emla Fitzsimons & Gill Wyness, 2011. "The Impact of Tuition Fees and Support on University Participation in the UK," CEE Discussion Papers 0126, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    2. Vergolini, Loris & Zanini, Nadir, 2015. "Away, but not too far from home. The effects of financial aid on university enrolment decisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 91-109.
    3. Helena Skyt Nielsen & Torben Sørensen & Christopher Taber, 2010. "Estimating the Effect of Student Aid on College Enrollment: Evidence from a Government Grant Policy Reform," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 185-215, May.
    4. Loris Vergolini & Nadir Zanini, 2012. "How does aid matter? The effect of financial aid on university enrolment decisions," Working Papers 2012/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    5. Turner, Nicholas, 2011. "The Effect of Tax-Based Federal Student Aid on College Enrollment," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(3), pages 839-861, September.
    6. Turner, Nicholas, 2010. "The Effect of Tax-Based Federal Student Aid on College Enrollment," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt6758069g, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    7. Susan M. Dynarski, 2003. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 279-288, March.
    8. Loris Vergolini & Nadir Zanini & Nicola Bazoli, 2014. "Liquidity Constraints and University Participation in Times of Recession. Evidence from a Small-scale Programme," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2014-11, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    9. Lovenheim, Michael F. & Owens, Emily G., 2014. "Does federal financial aid affect college enrollment? Evidence from drug offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-13.
    10. Vivian Yuen Ting Liu, 2020. "Is School Out for the Summer? The Impact of Year-Round Pell Grants on Academic and Employment Outcomes of Community College Students," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 241-269, Spring.
    11. Aimee Chin & Chinhui Juhn, 2010. "Does Reducing College Costs Improve Educational Outcomes for Undocumented Immigrants? Evidence from State Laws Permitting Undocumented Immigrants to Pay In-state Tuition at State Colleges and Universi," NBER Working Papers 15932, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Peter Dolton & Li Lin, 2011. "From Grants to Loans and Fees: The Demand for Post-Compulsory Education in England and Wales from 1955 to 2008," CEE Discussion Papers 0127, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    13. Frenette, Marc, 2011. "Is Debt Relief as Good as Liquidity? The Impact of Prospective Student Debt on Post-Secondary Attendance among Low-Income Youth," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2011-7, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 29 Mar 2011.
    14. Loris Vergolini & Nadir Zanini, 2012. "How does aid matter? The effect of financial aid on university enrolment decisions," Working Papers 2012/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    15. Gill Wyness & Richard Murphy, 2024. "Higher Education funding: what's the problem and what are the potential solutions?," CEPEO Briefing Note Series 32, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Oct 2024.
    16. Bridget T. Long, 2004. "The Impact of Federal Tax Credits for Higher Education Expenses," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 101-168, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Bednar, Steven & Gicheva, Dora, 2013. "Tax benefits for graduate education: Incentives for whom?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 181-197.
    18. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    19. Neill, Christine, 2009. "Tuition fees and the demand for university places," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 561-570, October.
    20. Gabrielle Fack & Julien Grenet, 2015. "Improving College Access and Success for Low-Income Students: Evidence from a Large Need-Based Grant Program," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 1-34, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    higher education participation; higher education funding policies; maintenance grants; difference in differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60603. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.