Pricing Out the Disadvantaged? The Effect of Tuition Deregulation in Texas Public Four-Year Institutions

2014 ◽  
Vol 655 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella M. Flores ◽  
Justin C. Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
College Enrollment ◽  
Hispanic Students ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Pell Grant ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Four Year Institutions ◽  
Tuition Deregulation

This article examines whether tuition deregulation in Texas (in 2003 the state legislature gave tuition-setting authority to institutional governing boards) has affected the college enrollment of underrepresented and low-income students. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find that Hispanic students have been most negatively affected by tuition deregulation. Results for black students are largely mixed, in that we find an increase in college enrollment after deregulation in some specifications, while Pell Grant recipients, incoming and returning, appear to have experienced an increase in college enrollment following deregulation. Implications and recommendations for state governments considering this contentious legislation are provided.

scholarly journals ProPelled: The Effects of Grants on Graduation, Earnings, and Welfare

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Denning ◽  
Benjamin M. Marx ◽  
Lesley J. Turner
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Public Colleges ◽  
Pell Grant ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Federal Grant ◽  
Four Year Institutions ◽  
First Time

We estimate effects of the Pell Grant—the largest US federal grant for college students—using administrative data from Texas public colleges and a discontinuity in grant generosity for low-income students. Within four-year institutions, eligibility for additional grant aid significantly increases first-time students’ degree completion and later earnings. Our estimated impacts on earnings alone are enough to fully recoup government expenditures within 10 years, suggesting that financial aid likely pays for itself several times over. (JEL H75, I22, I23, I26, J24, J31)

Skills, Schools, and Credit Constraints: Evidence from Massachusetts

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Goodman
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
College Enrollment ◽  
Credit Constraints ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Academic Skill ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Enrollment Rates

Low college enrollment rates among low-income students may stem from a combination of credit constraints, low academic skill, and low-quality schools. Recent Massachusetts data allow the first use of school district fixed effects in the analysis of credit constraints, leading to four findings. First, low-income students in Massachusetts have lower intended college enrollment rates than higher income students but also have dramatically lower skills and attend lower-quality school districts. Second, inclusion of skill controls greatly reduces but does not eliminate this intended enrollment gap. Third, inclusion of school district fixed effects has little further impact, with low-income students eight percentage points less likely to intend enrollment than higher income students of the same skill and from the same school district. Fourth, medium- and high-skilled low-income students appear the most constrained. State governments could use the methods employed here to target financial aid more efficiently.

scholarly journals Take Two! SAT Retaking and College Enrollment Gaps

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Goodman ◽  
Oded Gurantz ◽  
Jonathan Smith
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Low Income ◽  
College Enrollment ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Sat Scores ◽  
Enrollment Rates ◽  
Enrollment Gaps

Only half of SAT-takers retake the exam, with even lower retake rates among low-income students and underrepresented minority (URM) students. We exploit discontinuous jumps in retake probabilities at multiples of 100, driven by left-digit bias, to estimate retaking’s causal effects. Retaking substantially improves SAT scores and increases four-year college enrollment rates, particularly for low-income and URM students. Eliminating disparities in retake rates could close up to 10 percent of the income-based gap and up to 7 percent of the race-based gap in four-year college enrollment rates of high school graduates. (JEL I21, I23, I24, J15)

Pell Grant Versus Income Data in Postsecondary Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 309-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Ochs Rosinger ◽  
Karly S. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Income Quintile ◽  
Pell Grant ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Economic Diversity ◽  
Income Status ◽  
Income Data ◽  
Recent Policy

Given growing disparities in college enrollment by household income, policymakers and researchers often are interested in understanding whether policies expand access for low-income students. In this brief, we highlight the limitations of a commonly available measure of low-income status—whether students receive a federal Pell grant—and compare it to new data on enrollment by income quintile to evaluate a recent policy effort within elite colleges aimed at expanding access. We demonstrate that Pell is a rough measure of low-income status and that without more detailed data on colleges’ economic diversity, policy evaluations focusing on existing Pell data will suffer from measurement error and potentially miss enrollment effects for moderate- and high-income students.

The Hidden Costs of Corroboration: Estimating the Effects of Financial Aid Verification on College Enrollment

2021 ◽  
pp. 016237372198930
Author(s):  
Jason C. Lee ◽  
Madison Dell ◽  
Manuel S. González Canché ◽  
Alex Monday ◽  
Amanda Klafehn
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
Low Income ◽  
College Enrollment ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
Percentage Points

Every year, the U.S. Department of Education selects hundreds of thousands of low-income students to provide additional documentation to corroborate their financial aid eligibility in a process known as verification. Although many are concerned about the potential deleterious effects of being selected, to date, studies are limited to descriptive analyses. To fill this gap in the literature, we use population-level, multicohort data to estimate the effects of financial aid verification on initial college enrollment for recent high school graduates in Tennessee. An entropy balance weighting approach indicates that students selected for verification are 3.8 percentage points (4.9%) less likely to enroll in college with underserved populations and late Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) filers most negatively affected.

scholarly journals Impact of Voucher Design on Public School Performance: Evidence from Florida and Milwaukee Voucher Programs

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 349-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajashri Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
School Performance ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
School Level ◽  
Failing Schools ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Estimation Strategy ◽  
Voucher Program ◽  
The U.S

Abstract This article compares two alternative voucher designs implemented in the U.S. The Milwaukee program was a “voucher shock” program that made low-income students eligible for vouchers. The Florida program was an accountability-tied voucher program that faced failing schools with “threat of vouchers” and stigma. In the context of a formal theoretical model, the study argues that the threatened schools will improve under the Florida-type program and this improvement will exceed that of the corresponding treated schools under the Milwaukee-type program. Using school-level scores from Florida and Wisconsin, and a difference-in-differences estimation strategy in trends, it then finds strong support in favor of these predictions.

scholarly journals Price Regulation, Price Discrimination, and Equality of Opportunity in Higher Education: Evidence from Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-65
Author(s):  
Rodney J. Andrews ◽  
Kevin M. Stange
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Low Income ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Price Regulation ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Public Higher Education ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Poor Students ◽  
High Earning

We assess the importance of price regulation and price discrimination to low-income students’ access to opportunities in public higher education. In 2003, Texas shifted tuition-setting authority away from the state legislature to public universities themselves. In response, most institutions raised sticker prices and many began charging more for high-earning majors, such as business and engineering. We find that poor students actually shifted toward higher earning programs following deregulation, relative to non-poor students. Deregulation facilitated more price discrimination through increased grant aid and enabled supply-side enhancements, which may have partially shielded poor students from higher sticker prices. (JEL D63, H75, I22, I23, I24, I28, I32)

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