The role of information in the application for merit-based scholarships: Evidence from a randomized field experiment

Stefanie P. Herber

No 95, BERG Working Paper Series from Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group

Abstract: If information asymmetries prevent talented students of non-academic backgrounds from applying for merit-based aid, the full potential of qualified youth will not be unfolded and social selectivity is likely to corroborate. This paper analyzes whether information asymmetries exist and decrease students' likelihood to apply for merit-based scholarships. In a randomized field experiment, I expose more than 5,000 German students either to general information on federally funded scholarships or additionally to tailored information on details of the application process, conveyed by a similar role model. Both treatments reduced information asymmetries significantly. The role model treatment did significantly increase non-academic and male students' application probabilities for federally funded merit-based scholarships. Providing only general information on the scholarship system triggered participants' own information search for alternative funding sources and increased application rates for other, not federally funded scholarships.

Keywords: information asymmetries; student financial aid; merit scholarships; role model; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 I22 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-exp
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/106469/1/81586017X.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:bamber:95

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in BERG Working Paper Series from Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (econstor@zbw-workspace.eu).