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ERIC Number: EJ1146712
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-3060
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
SMART Money: Do Financial Incentives Encourage College Students to Study Science?
Evans, Brent
Education Finance and Policy, v12 n3 p342-368 Sum 2017
Increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees is a major federal education priority. I investigate whether providing a $4,000 financial incentive to low-income students in their junior and senior years of college induces them to major in a STEM field. Using administrative data from Ohio public colleges, I exploit a discontinuity in income eligibility for the National SMART Grant on the pursuit of science majors. Regression discontinuity results indicate financial incentives do not encourage students at the threshold of eligibility to choose STEM majors in their junior year. The null findings are fairly precise, ruling out modest, policy relevant effects for students near the Pell Grant eligibility threshold. I examine several potential explanations of this null result and argue that federal policy makers could improve the design of the program by creating the financial incentive earlier in students' educational careers.
MIT Press. 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Tel: 617-253-2889; Fax: 617-253-1709; e-mail: journals-rights@mit.edu; Web site: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/edfp
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ohio
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A