The Impact of Pell Grant Eligibility on College Persistence: An Application of Regression Discontinuity Design

• In Event: 41.037 - Noncognitive Factors in Student Success

Abstract

The federal Pell Grant provides the largest amount of need-based grant aid for higher education in the United States: $33.6 billion in 2011, and yet, its impact on collegiate outcomes is unclear. In particular, we have limited knowledge of the causal impact of financial aid on persistence. To address this gap, we estimate the impact of Pell Grant eligibility on first to second year persistence in a regression discontinuity framework using a nationally representative sample of students (BPS:04/09). We find suggestive evidence that Pell Grant eligibility does increase student persistence but this finding is marginally significant and not robust to bandwidth specification.

Authors

• Brent Joseph Evans, Vanderbilt University

• Tuan D Nguyen, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College