A Boost for the Middle Class: An Evaluation of No-Loan Policies and Elite Private College Enrollment

In response to goals of expanding access as well as public pressure to leverage substantial endowment resources toward increasing affordability, numerous elite colleges have enacted policies aimed at improving access and affordability by replacing student loans with grants in financial aid packages....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of higher education (Columbus) 2019-01, Vol.90 (1), p.27-55
Main Authors: Rosinger, Kelly Ochs, Belasco, Andrew S., Hearn, James C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Access to Education
College access
College Students
Colleges & universities
Economic elites
Education policy
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Eligibility
elite colleges
Elites
Enrollment
Enrollment Trends
Enrollments
Equality
Federal Aid
financial aid policies
Government grants
Grants
Higher education
Loans
Loanwords
Low income groups
Middle Class
Mobility
Paying for College
Private Colleges
Private colleges & universities
quasi-experimental analysis
Quasi-experimental methods
Social classes
Student Financial Aid
Student loans
Student Records
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In response to goals of expanding access as well as public pressure to leverage substantial endowment resources toward increasing affordability, numerous elite colleges have enacted policies aimed at improving access and affordability by replacing student loans with grants in financial aid packages. No-loan policies, however, differ in the extent to which they expand affordability: Some policies offer a universal discount by replacing loans with grants for all aid-eligible students, while others offer narrowly targeted discounts to students based on income, Pell Grant eligibility status, or another means-tested threshold. We leveraged newly available Equality of Opportunity Project Mobility Report Card data and a difference-in-differences design using unweighted and weighted comparison groups to examine the relationship between adoption of universal and targeted no-loan policies and economic diversity at elite colleges. We found that colleges offering universal discounts experienced increased enrollment among middle-class students. Our study indicates universal no-loan policies represent one strategy to increase access and affordability for the middle-class in the elite reaches of higher education. The study also, however, raises questions about the policies' effectiveness in addressing access for low-income students and efficiency in targeting aid.
ISSN:0022-1546
1538-4640
DOI:10.1080/00221546.2018.1484222