Core-Knowledge: Sparking Interest in College

LeBron James and Michael Scott chose to forego postsecondary education. They turned out just fine. However, too many high school students are making the same decision, perhaps because they lack “college knowledge”—information about how much college costs, how to finance higher education, and how a college education affects lifelong earnings potential. In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Philip Oreopoulos and Ryan Dunn describe a randomized field experiment to determine the impact of college knowledge on students’ interest in and perceptions of college.

The authors conducted the study in five of the lowest-ranked public high schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Toronto, Canada. These schools send only 30 percent of their students to postsecondary institutions. Of the 1,616 high school students who participated in the study, 41 percent of participants were first or second-generation immigrants.

The authors administered two online surveys, in sequence. The first survey collected participants’ demographic information, expectations regarding educational attainment, parents’ education levels, and prior academic performance. It also determined participants’ knowledge of their eligibility for financial aid, as well as their reasons for wanting to either enroll in or forego a postsecondary education.

Half of the participants who completed the first survey were randomly selected to receive “online information” designed to expand their college knowledge. This information included a video, a financial aid calculator, and financial aid information on regional colleges. The short promotional video described postsecondary education “in a positive light” by comparing the mean earnings for 35-year-old Torontonians with different levels of educational attainment. The same participants were shown a financial aid calculator, which estimated the financial aid that they would receive if they attended college, and given the financial aid packages and application instructions for regional universities.

All students who completed the first survey were sent a link to complete the second survey three weeks later. This survey assessed students’ expected earnings under scenarios that varied by educational attainment and expectations about financial aid eligibility. At the end of the second survey, participants could download an information document that described the benefits, application process, and affordability of postsecondary education. Students could also request information from specific colleges and universities in the region.

The results of the experiment are promising. Participants that received the online information, who were initially unsure about attending college, were twice as likely to download the document and request information from specific colleges and universities after the second survey, when compared to participants who did not receive information. Moreover, participants who received information “reported lower expected earnings from stopping at high school,” compared to their counterparts in the control group who did not receive the online information. Participants that received information also expected to earn 40 percent more with a college degree than without one.

College costs also appeared less daunting to students who received the online information. Thirty-nine percent of students who received online information thought that college costs would prevent individuals from attending college, while 62 percent of students who did not receive the online information stated that costs inhibit college attendance. Controlling for background characteristics such as parents’ education, gender, or academic performance in the prior year did not affect any of the estimates in a statistically meaningful way.

Although the authors are unable to draw conclusions about sub-groups in the sample (i.e., by gender or age), they state, “The results suggest that providing easily accessible information about [postsecondary education] matters, especially for those initially uncertain about whether they want to go or can afford [it].” The authors suggest that “a video shown in class or a homework assignment to estimate one’s own financial aid eligibility” may work too, as they constitute a meaningful effort to impart college knowledge on students. Given that President Obama has set a national goal for America to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, school districts looking to increase college-going rates might take a cue from these authors’ findings.

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