The first working paper, from this past May, finds the trio working with Aizsat Nurshatayevea, Lindsay C. Page, and Judith Scott-Clayton in May 2022
was titled, “Addressing Non-Financial Barriers to College Access and Success: Evidence and Policy Implications.” This paper discusses at length the non-financial
barriers to college access as an explanation for disparities among socioeconomic class, race, and gender. These barriers include academic under-preparation, informational and behavioral interventions, support systems, structural barriers, and system-level
factors.
At the closing of this paper, the researchers suggest broad scaling of programs such as advanced placement courses paired with test-taking necessitates to ensure students are prepared for the courses and sufficient supports to ensure students
placed in these courses can succeed; The literature illustrates that without these caveats that often-under-prepared students will be discouraged with a negative impact on their college and career access after high school. Other programs the paper
discusses includes dual-enrollment and online learning.
The second working paper published along with Lindsay C. Page and Judith Scott-Clayton in July 2022 was titled, “College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions.” This paper focuses heavily on the financial system in America, first starting with the economic rationale for financial aid, how the system current operates in America, and
then diving into how financial aid has a causal impact on students’ college decisions, attainment, and post-college outcomes.
The paper itself is impressively detailed, but what was is incredibly compelling was the section on
empirical evidence on the impacts of student aid being broken down into various categories, allowing the comparison of different types of aid such as need-based grants versus merit-based versus student loans. Interesting findings include that need-based
grants increased persistence and completion by 2 to 3 points, on average, or about 1.5-2 percentages points per $1,000 of grant aid. Other interesting findings on all types of financial aid systems are outlined in the paper.
Overall,
these papers serve as an incredible resource for any literature searches on their respective topics, given that both are incredibly detailed and source heavy. NCAN members would do well to bookmark these for their reference and inclusion, for example,
in future proposals.
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