Open Workshop: The Effectiveness of Tuition Waivers and Further Stipends to Students
The aim of the Open Workshop Series in Business and Management Studies is to promote top-quality academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences. This is a unique opportunity for sharing knowledge and networking with local and international community members.
Speaker: Arkādijs Zvaigzne, doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, U.S.
I estimate the effectiveness of the provision of tuition waivers and further stipends to students using individual-level administrative data on the largest financial aid programs in Latvia and many 10 other countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Using a regression discontinuity design, I evaluate the effects of the reception of various types of aid on student GPA, persistence, and graduation rates. What I find is that reception of a tuition waiver increases student graduation rates by 11.9pp, and the reception of further aid beyond that increases their GPA by 0.17SD and persistence by 4.6pp. I also find considerable heterogeneity of the effects by student academic and demographic characteristics, finding that the provision of aid to students earlier in their studies has stronger effects on their graduation rates, and that lower-achieving and male students benefit more. This paper contributes to my knowledge the first causal estimate of a financial aid program that is highly prevalent in multiple countries and provides further insights into the mechanisms behind how financial aid might work to improve student outcomes.
Arkādijs Zvaigzne is a doctoral candidate in education policy and program evaluation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He studies how higher education institutions and workforce development policies can help reduce inequality and foster development in Latvia and other post-socialist countries. He applies econometric and machine learning methods to evaluate the impact of various financial aid and workforce training programs on the outcomes of students and workers. He holds a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania.
Discussion moderated by Dr. Arnis Sauka.
Attendance is free of charge.
Please sign up for the seminar, by writing to arnis.sauka@sseriga.edu by October 12, 2023.
The aim of the SSE Riga Open Workshop Series is to:
- Foster cooperation between business and management researchers, practitioners and policymakers, as well as
- Promote academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences, focusing on but not limited to entrepreneurship, marketing, management, public administration, and strategy.
Organised by the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga