The Impact of No-Loan Program Participation on First-Year Outcomes for Low-Income and First-Generation College Students?

• In Event: 28.047 - Financial Aid Verification, Nudges, and the Burden of Loans: Understanding Effects

Abstract

The role of financial aid in facilitating student matriculation and success is well-documented within the academic literature. Recently, no-loan and loan replacement programs have been adopted as mechanisms to increase low-income and underrepresented minority student enrollment. Few scholars have examined the impact of these programs on post-enrollment and completion outcomes. This paper examines the impact of participation in a no-loan program using administrative student data from the University of Florida. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find that participation in the university no-loan program significantly increases the likelihoods of first-year retention as well as a variety of financial aid outcomes during the first-year.

Author

• Dennis Allan Kramer, University of Florida