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Author: Dynarski, Susan M.
Resulting in 4 citations.
1. Bailey, Martha J.
Dynarski, Susan M.
Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion
Working Paper No. 17633. National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2011. Also Univ. of Michigan, Population Studies Center, PSC Research Report No. 11-746. December 2011.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17633
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Population Studies Center, University of Michigan
Keyword(s): College Education; College Enrollment; College Graduates; Educational Attainment; Gender Differences; Income Level

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We describe changes over time in inequality in postsecondary education using nearly seventy years of data from the U.S. Census and the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. We find growing gaps between children from high- and low-income families in college entry, persistence, and graduation. Rates of college completion increased by only four percentage points for low-income cohorts born around 1980 relative to cohorts born in the early 1960s, but by 18 percentage points for corresponding cohorts who grew up in high-income families. Among men, inequality in educational attainment has increased slightly since the early 1980s. But among women, inequality in educational attainment has risen sharply, driven by increases in the education of the daughters of high-income parents. Sex differences in educational attainment, which were small or nonexistent thirty years ago, are now substantial, with women outpacing men in every demographic group. The female advantage in educational attainment is largest in the top quartile of the income distribution. These sex differences present a formidable challenge to standard explanations for rising inequality in educational attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Bailey, Martha J. and Susan M. Dynarski. "Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion." Working Paper No. 17633. National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2011. Also Univ. of Michigan, Population Studies Center, PSC Research Report No. 11-746. December 2011.Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17633.
2. Bailey, Martha J.
Dynarski, Susan M.
Inequality in Postsecondary Education
In: Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances. R. Murnane and G. Duncan, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011: 117-132
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Keyword(s): College Education; College Enrollment; College Graduates; Educational Attainment; Gender Differences; Income Level

Bibliography Citation
Bailey, Martha J. and Susan M. Dynarski. "Inequality in Postsecondary Education" In: Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances. R. Murnane and G. Duncan, eds., New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011: 117-132
3. Dynarski, Susan M.
Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion
NBER Working Paper No. 7422, National Bureau of Economic Research, November 1999.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w7422
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): College Enrollment; College Graduates; Financial Assistance; Social Security

Does student aid increase college attendance or simply subsidize costs for infra-marginal students? Settling the question empirically is a challenge, because aid is correlated with many characteristics that influence educational investment decisions. A shift in financial aid policy that affects some youth but not others can provide an identifying source of variation in aid. In 1982, Congress eliminated the Social Security Student Benefit Program, which at its peak provided grants totaling $3.7 billion a year to one out of ten college students. Using the death of a parent as a proxy for Social Security beneficiary status, I find that offering $1,000 ($1998) of grant aid increases educational attainment by about 0.16 years and the probability of attending college by four percentage points. The elasticities of attendance and completed years of college with respect to schooling costs are 0.7 to 0.8. The evidence suggests that aid has a "threshold effect": a student who has crossed the hurdle of college entry with the assistance of aid is more likely to continue schooling later in life than one who has never attempted college. This is consistent with a model in which there are fixed costs of college entry. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis indicates that the aid program examined by this paper was a cost-effective use of government resources.
Bibliography Citation
Dynarski, Susan M. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion." NBER Working Paper No. 7422, National Bureau of Economic Research, November 1999.
4. Dynarski, Susan M.
Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion
The American Economic Review 93,1 (March 2003): 279-288.
Also: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/000282803321455287
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): College Enrollment; College Graduates; Financial Assistance; Social Security

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Does student aid increase college attendance or simply subsidize costs for infra-marginal students? Settling the question empirically is a challenge, because aid is correlated with many characteristics that influence educational investment decisions. A shift in financial aid policy that affects some youth but not others can provide an identifying source of variation in aid. In 1982, Congress eliminated the Social Security Student Benefit Program, which at its peak provided grants totaling $3.7 billion a year to one out of ten college students. Using the death of a parent as a proxy for Social Security beneficiary status, I find that offering $1,000 ($1998) of grant aid increases educational attainment by about 0.16 years and the probability of attending college by four percentage points. The elasticities of attendance and completed years of college with respect to schooling costs are 0.7 to 0.8. The evidence suggests that aid has a "threshold effect": a student who has crossed the hurdle of college entry with the assistance of aid is more likely to continue schooling later in life than one who has never attempted college. This is consistent with a model in which there are fixed costs of college entry. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis indicates that the aid program examined by this paper was a cost-effective use of government resources.
Bibliography Citation
Dynarski, Susan M. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion." The American Economic Review 93,1 (March 2003): 279-288.