Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 37 No. 2 2019
Fighting for Education: Financial Aid and Degree Attainment
Abstract
The Post-9/11 GI Bill brought about the largest expansion in veteran education benefits since the end of World War II, increasing annual benefit expenditures from $3 billion to more than $13 billion. Leveraging variation over time, geography, and type of veterans, I explore the effect of financial aid on degree attainment. I find that the aid expansion increased degree attainment by 5–6 percentage points (25%), roughly 0.4 percentage points per $1,000 of additional maximum aid. These findings indicate that financial aid can increase degree attainment, even for individuals with high levels of initial support.
- DOI
- 10.1086/700191
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 509-544
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref