TrygFonden's Child Research Seminar Series: Susan Dynarski, Harvard University

Title: A Pathway to Mobility: Shifting Low-Income Students to Higher-Quality Degrees (with Elizabeth Burland, Nora Delaney, Susan Dynarski, Katherine Leu, CJ Libassi, Katherine Michelmore, Stephanie Owen, Mary Quiroga, and Elizabeth Salinas)

Abstract:

Earnings inequality is primarily growing within education groups, especially among college graduates, and returns to a bachelor's degree vary substantially across colleges. Low-income students disproportionately attend colleges with weaker peers, fewer resources, and lower earnings. We experimentally evaluate a program that shifted high-achieving, low-income students into higher-quality colleges. Students randomly offered a guarantee of four years of tuition and fees at the University of Michigan were 21 percentage points more likely to enroll at a UM campus. The offer primarily shifted students across colleges rather than into college: most compliers would otherwise have attended less-selective four-year colleges. HAIL accelerated bachelor's degree completion, increasing four-year attainment by 4 percentage points, but had no effect on attainment after six years. It substantially increased degree quality: students offered the scholarship were 12 percentage points more likely to earn a bachelor's degree from a highly- or most-selective college. IV estimates indicate that students induced to attend a University of Michigan campus were 56 percentage points more likely to earn such a degree. The increase in college quality predicts earnings gains of 18 to 25 percent.

Susan Dynarski