A Randomized Control Trial of the Effect of Increased Scholarship on Graduate School Enrollment

• In Event: Does Money Matter? The Impact of Financial Aid on Student Success

Abstract

Much of the research on financial aid has used descriptive and quasi-experimental designs to study the impact on college access and choice, while focusing on undergraduate applicants and institutions. In this paper, we examine the effects of randomly assigning matched pairs of highly competitive applicants to one of two levels of merit-based funding on the probability of enrollment in the graduate school of education at a private, elite university. Using a random-intercept logistic regression model, we find that the offer of additional grant money does not have a statistically significant impact on yield.

Authors

• Rui Yang, American Institutes for Research

• Jun Hwang, University of Pennsylvania

• Jennifer McMaken, University of Pennsylvania

• Andrew C. Porter, University of Pennsylvania