Student Heterogeneity and Financial Incentives in Graduate Education: Evidence from a Student Aid Reform

Abstract

In this paper, I study heterogeneity in graduate students’ responses to financial incentives. The incentive was given by a student aid reform in Norway that was intended to increase the proportion of students who graduate on time by offering a reduction of their student loan. Using a difference-in-difference strategy and detailed Norwegian register data, I find considerable variation in the treatment effect by student characteristics. Male students, students from low-income families, students in the middle of the ability distribution, and students with dependent children responded more strongly to the reform than others. Both employment rates and earnings of treated students were significantly reduced in the reform period, but the take-up of loans was not largely affected. In summary, male students mainly responded by reducing working hours, whereas female students largely exited employment. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds must have adapted through other channels than employment, earnings, or take-up of loans. Students with dependent children responded by increasing their take-up of loans. There is an understudied relationship between student characteristics and student behavior. By learning more about this relationship, it might be possible to design policies that affect student behavior more efficiently than the ones that are in place today.

Stratification of Health Professional Education and Its Funding Disparities: Evidence From China During the Period of 1998–2017

“…In particular, public financing should be allocated properly so as to improve efficiency in the national contexts ( 1 ). The extant research on higher education finance focuses mainly on fiscal inequality ( 2 ), performance-based funding policies ( 3 ), the impacts of financial incentives measures on student educational outcomes ( 4 ), as well as the determinants of government funding ( 5 ), etc. However, related fields have not formed a very clear outline of funding input in HPE and the financial situation of HPIs worldwide.…”

Determinantes del exceso de duración en la educación terciaria en Chile

“…Además, se debe tener en consideración el costo de oportunidad asociado a destinar más tiempo a terminar los estudios, mientras que, alternativamente, el estudiante podría estar trabajando y percibiendo un salario acorde con su profesión. El impacto de los incentivos financieros sobre la titulación oportuna ha sido ampliamente estudiado en países como Noruega (Gunnes, Kirkebøen & Rønning, 2013;Sten-Gahmberg, 2020), Italia (Garibaldi, Giavazzi, Ichino & Rettore, 2012), Finlandia (Hämäläinen, Koerselman & Uusitalo, 2017) y Estados Unidos (Scott-Clayton, 2015).…”