The Effects of Merit-Based Scholarships on Educational Outcomes

This paper analyzes the effect of a statewide merit-based scholarship program on educational outcomes in Arizona. It tests whether Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) scholarship has an effect on a comprehensive set of educational outcomes such as the number of applicants, student...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of labor research 2016-06, Vol.37 (2), p.235-261
Main Author: Upton, Gregory B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Arizona
College students
Colleges & universities
Community colleges
Demand
Economics
Enrollments
Estimation
Females
Higher education
Hypotheses
Population
Scholarship
Scholarships & fellowships
Schools
Secondary schools
Statistical analysis
Student financial aid
Student retention
Students
Tuition
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper analyzes the effect of a statewide merit-based scholarship program on educational outcomes in Arizona. It tests whether Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) scholarship has an effect on a comprehensive set of educational outcomes such as the number of applicants, student admissions, first-year first-time enrollment, ACT scores of entering freshman, retention rates, as well as on the level of tuition and fees at the three schools targeted by the program; Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. Both difference-in-differences estimation as well as synthetic control methods shows that AIMS has an economically and statistically significant effect enrollment. Enrollment effects are greatest among African American and Hispanic students and are significant for both men and women. While point estimates suggest that AIMS also lead to increases in tuition and fees, these results are not robust to placebo tests.
ISSN:0195-3613
1936-4768
DOI:10.1007/s12122-016-9222-7