The Effect of Georgia's HOPE Scholarship on College Major: A Focus on STEM

David L. Sjoquist () and John Winters
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David L. Sjoquist: Georgia State University

No 8875, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: There is growing concern in the U.S. that the nation is producing too few college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and there is a desire to understand how various policies affect college major decisions. This paper first uses student administrative records from the University System of Georgia to examine whether Georgia's HOPE Scholarship has affected students' college major decisions, with a focus on STEM majors. We find consistent evidence that HOPE reduced the likelihood that a USG student earned a degree with a major in a STEM field. The paper explores alternative reasons why HOPE reduced the likelihood of earning a STEM major.

Keywords: merit aid; HOPE Scholarship; college major; STEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2015-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 2015, 4:15

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Journal Article: The effect of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship on college major: a focus on STEM (2015)
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