The Returns to College Persistence for Marginal Students: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from University Dismissal Policies

Ben Ost, Weixiang Pan and Douglas Webber
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Weixiang Pan: University of Illinois at Chicago

No 9799, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We estimate the returns to college using administrative data on college enrollment matched to administrative data on weekly earnings. Utilizing the fact that colleges dismiss low-performing students based on exact GPA cutoffs, we use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the earnings impacts of college. Dismissed students are permitted to apply for readmission, but since relatively few do so, these students end up completing fewer years of school and are approximately 10 percentage points less likely to graduate college. Our estimates suggest that low-performing students (on the margin of college dismissal) derive substantial earnings benefits from college.

Keywords: regression discontinuity; returns to college; academic probation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I23 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 75 pages
Date: 2016-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published in: Journal of Labor Economics, 2018, 36 (3), 779-805

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Journal Article: The Returns to College Persistence for Marginal Students: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from University Dismissal Policies (2018)
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