Student loans: Liquidity constraint and higher education in South Africa

Marc Gurgand, Adrien Lorenceau () and Thomas Melonio

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Abstract: Empirical evidence that access to higher education is constrained by credit availability is limited and usually indirect. This paper provides direct evidence by comparing university enrollment rates of South African potential students, depending on whether they get a loan or not to cover their registration fees, in a context where such fees are high. We use matched individual data from both a credit institution (Eduloan) and the Department of Education. Based on a regression discontinuity design using the fact that loans are granted according to a credit score threshold, we can estimate the causal impact of loan obtainment. We find that the credit constraint is substantial, as it decreases the enrollment rate into higher education by more than 20 percentage points in a population of student loan applicants.

Keywords: Education; university; credit constraint; regression discontinuity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-mfd
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00590898v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Working Paper: Student loans: Liquidity constraint and higher education in South Africa (2011)
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