The Effects of Grant Aid on Student Persistence and Degree Attainment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence:

TLDR: The provision of grant aid is important to students' postsecondary opportunities and success as mentioned in this paper, and it is well established that grant aid increases the probability of enrollment in postsecondary education.

Abstract: The provision of grant aid is important to students’ postsecondary opportunities and success. It is well established that grant aid increases the probability of enrollment in postsecondary educatio...

Figures

Table 4 Meta-analytic results of moderators of the effects of grant aid on degree completion in the United States

Figure 5. Forest plot for overall effect estimates of grant aid on delayed completion from primary studies.

Figure 6: Grant aid amount plotted against effect size, percentage point increase per $1,000 of grant aid for two outcomes

Table 3 Meta-analytic results of moderators of the effects of grant aid on postsecondary persistence in the United States

Figure 7. Contoured enhanced funnel plots of grant aid and persistence from primary U.S. studies.

Figure 2. Forest plot for overall effect estimates of grant aid on within year persistence from primary U.S. studies.

Full text

The Effects of Grant Aid on Student Persistence and Degree
Attainment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the
Causal Evidence
It is well established that financial aid, in the form of grants, increases the probability of
enrollment in postsecondary education. A slate of studies in recent years has extended this
research to examine whether grant aid also has an impact on persistence and degree
attainment. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal evidence
of the effect of grant aid on postsecondary persistence and degree attainment. A
meta-analysis of 42 studies yielding 73 effect sizes estimates that grant aid increases the
probability of student persistence and degree completion between two and three percentage
points, and estimates that an additional $1,000 of grant aid improves year-to-year persistence
by 1.2 percentage points. Suggestions for future research and implications for policy are
discussed.
ABSTRACTAUTHORS
VERSION
March 2018
Suggested citation: Nguyen, T.D., Kramer, J.W., & Evans, B. J. (2018). The Effects of Grant Aid on Student
Persistence and Degree Attainment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence
(CEPA Working Paper No.18-04). Retrieved from Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis:
http://cepa.stanford.edu/wp18-04
CEPA Working Paper No. 18-04
Tuan D. Nguyen
Vanderbilt University
Jenna W. Kramer
Vanderbilt University
Brent J. Evans
Vanderbilt University

Running Head: THE EFFECTS OF GRANT AID
1
The Effects of Grant Aid on Student Persistence and Degree Attainment:
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence
Tuan D. Nguyen
Jenna W. Kramer
Brent J. Evans
Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

THE EFFECTS OF GRANT AID
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Abstract
It is well established that financial aid, in the form of grants, increases the probability of
enrollment in postsecondary education. A slate of studies in recent years has extended this
research to examine whether grant aid also has an impact on persistence and degree attainment.
This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal evidence of the effect of
grant aid on postsecondary persistence and degree attainment. A meta-analysis of 42 studies
yielding 73 effect sizes estimates that grant aid increases the probability of student persistence
and degree completion between two and three percentage points, and estimates that an additional
$1,000 of grant aid improves year-to-year persistence by 1.2 percentage points. Suggestions for
future research and implications for policy are discussed.
Keywords: financial aid, grant aid, persistence, attainment, meta-analysis,

THE EFFECTS OF GRANT AID
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The Effects of Grant Aid on Student Persistence and Degree Attainment:
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence
The advent of widely accessible financial aid programs to support postsecondary study
has been a major factor in the democratization of higher education in the United States. Nearly
half (7.8 million) of the 16 million returning World War II veterans took advantage of GI Bill
funds to pursue an education or training program by 1956 (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,
n.d.). With the authorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, financial aid cemented
its role as a federal policy tool to be wielded for the creation of a skilled labor force and a
democratic citizenry. In the intervening years, individual states and institutions have adopted
both need-based and merit-based grant aid programs to supplement federal affordability efforts.
Where a college or university education had once been accessible only to the affluent, the wide
availability of grants put postsecondary education within reach for middle- and working-class
families.
As the number of Americans pursuing undergraduate education has grown, from 9.5
million in 1976 to 19 million in 2015 (NCES, 2016), receipt of financial aid to support college
financing has increasingly become the norm. In academic year 2014-2015, 86 and 79 percent of
first-time, full-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students at 4-year and 2-year
degree-granting postsecondary institutions, respectively, were awarded financial aid (McFarland
et al., 2017).
Much of this substantial investment in subsidizing postsecondary education is in the form
of grants. Today, over $125 billion annually flow to postsecondary students in the form of grant
aid, with more than a third of that sum coming from the federal government (College Board,
2016). Need-based grants may be justified exclusively on economic equity grounds (see Baum

THE EFFECTS OF GRANT AID
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(2007) for an application of Rawlsian justice to financial aid). However, there is also substantial
empirical evidence augmenting the equity case. Numerous studies have identified a positive
relationship between both need-based and merit-based grant aid and student outcomes including
college enrollment, academic performance, persistence, and degree attainment (e.g., Angrist,
Oreopoulos, & Williams, 2014; Deming & Dynarski, 2009). A subset of those studies have
employed experimental and quasi-experimental causal estimation methods which provide the
most accurate estimates available, and these studies have confirmed the important role financial
aid plays in the postsecondary access and success of undergraduate students.
Decisions regarding the prioritization of scarce dollars for student financial support
should be based on a body of high-quality empirical work. Several older attempts to review the
literature on the impacts of financial aid exist (Jensen, 1983; Leslie & Brinkman, 1988; St. John,
1991), but, in addition to being outdated, these studies incorrectly considered observational data
and analyses as evidence of causal impacts. The application of causal quantitative analytic
methods in the field of educational research has improved tremendously over the last few
decades, and a modern review of the literature of the efficacy of grant aid would preference the
inclusion of well-identified causal studies over observational studies prone to omitted variables
bias.
One recent review of the literature did account for the differences in observational, quasi-
experimental, and experimental analyses (Deming & Dynarski, 2009). After reviewing the causal
literature, Deming and Dynarski (2009) found a reduction in college costs increased
student enrollment, although the estimates varied substantially across studies. They concluded
reducing costs by $1,000 increases the likelihood of enrollment by about four percentage points.
Until very recently, the majority of causal research on the efficacy of financial aid has focused

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "The effects of grant aid on student persistence and degree attainment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal evidence" ?

A slate of studies in recent years has extended this research to examine whether grant aid also has an impact on persistence and degree attainment. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal evidence of the effect of grant aid on postsecondary persistence and degree attainment. Suggestions for future research and implications for policy are discussed. 

Q2. What are the future works mentioned in the paper "The effects of grant aid on student persistence and degree attainment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal evidence" ?

The authors THE EFFECTS OF GRANT AID 27 do suggest future research efforts in all areas of quantitative research examining binary outcomes endeavor to provide estimates from both linear probability models and logit models to ease subsequent meta-analytic comparisons. The authors have several suggestions for future research that would further advance the scholarly understanding and application of financial aid to improve postsecondary outcomes. As such, the authors suggest future research shows treatment results for men and women separately in subgroup analyses. Moreover, future research needs to examine the study and program characteristics, such as the size of the grant, the prestige of the grant, and how the grant is communicated to the recipients, all of which may influence these differential outcomes between men and women.