Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins

George Bulman (), Robert Fairlie, Sarena Goodman () and Adam Isen ()
Additional contact information
Sarena Goodman: Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Adam Isen: U.S. Department of the Treasury

No 13919, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine U.S. children whose parents won the lottery to trace out the effect of financial resources on college attendance. The analysis leverages federal tax and financial aid records and substantial variation in win size and timing. While per-dollar effects are modest, the relationship is weakly concave, with a high upper bound for amounts greatly exceeding college costs. Effects are smaller among low-SES households, not sensitive to how early in adolescence the shock occurs, and not moderated by financial aid crowd-out. The results imply that households derive consumption value from college and household financial constraints alone do not inhibit attendance.

Keywords: lottery winnings; financial constraints; parental resources; attendance; college; administrative data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 I22 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2020-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: American Economic Review, 2021, 111 (4), 1201–1240

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https://docs.iza.org/dp13919.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins (2021)
Working Paper: Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins (2020)
Working Paper: Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins (2016)
Working Paper: Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins (2016)
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