Student Aid Reforms in Quebec: Is Changing the Clawback Rate Better than Changing the Base Grant?

We examine two ways through which student financial aid can be reformed: a cut in the rate at which the aid is clawed back with earned income or an increase in the threshold at which this clawback applies. We present a theoretical and empirical analysis of these options. We show that both reduce incentives to work, although the clawback rate does so less. Cuts to clawbacks also deliver a bigger boost to financial aid for those most in need, although they may benefit students higher in the income distribution. We argue that governments might consider a policy that reduces clawback rates, but within a reasonable range of earned income.

A Quantitative Study on Student Financial Aid of a Local Undergraduate College in China

This study took the student aid data of a normal university in northern Jiangsu Province in 2018 as the object ofstudy, and studied the characteristics of student aid work in local colleges. Through the analysis of the data, it isfound that the characteristics of student aid in local undergraduate colleges and universities in China are as follows:the main source of investment is government, supplemented by colleges, and the amount of social aid is small andunstable; the function of the aid work is still mainly to help the poor, supplemented by awards for the students withexcellent academic performance, and aid for poor students without extra requisites are large in amount. The projectsrewarding outstanding students from the college funds are few in ordinary local colleges and universities, with lowreward amount per capita; the willingness of college students to apply for student loans is low, as loans need to berepaid, the attraction of loans to poor students who can afford partly of the cost is weak, compared with manynon-repayment and non-academic performance requirements aid projects.