We examine US children whose parents won the lottery to trace out the effect of financial resources on college attendance. The analysis leverages federal tax and financial aid records and substantial variation in win size and timing. While per-dollar effects are modest, the relationship is weakly concave, with a high upper bound for amounts greatly exceeding college costs. Effects are smaller among low-SES households, not sensitive to how early in adolescence the shock occurs, and not moderated by financial aid crowd-out. The results imply that households derive consumption value from college, and household financial constraints alone do not inhibit attendance.

We estimate whether students update the colleges to which they consider applying in response to large, unanticipated information shocks generated by the release of SAT scores—a primary factor in admission decisions. Exploiting population data on the timing of college selection and a policy that induces students to choose colleges prior to taking the exam, we find that students update their portfolios in terms of selectivity, tuition, and sector. However, the magnitude of updating is too modest to significantly reduce unexplained variation across students, suggesting that nonacademic factors are the dominant determinants of college match.