Credit Access and College Enrollment
Abstract
Does access to credit explain the gap in schooling attainment between children from richer and poorer families? I present new evidence on this important question based on the causal effects of two college loan programs in Chile that are available to students scoring above a threshold on the national college admission test, enabling a regression discontinuity design. I find that credit access leads to a 100 percent increase in immediate college enrollment and a 50 percent increase in the probability of ever enrolling. Moreover, access to loans effectively eliminates the income gap in enrollment and number of years of college attainment.
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The Chilean student loan program virtually eliminates the income gradient in college enrollment for students above the cutoff.
“Examining college applicants around the test score cutoff, Solis (2017) finds that college enrollment is 16 percentage points higher for college applicants who just barely qualify for loans (from a baseline college enrollment rate around 30 percent); he also finds that the program virtually eliminates the income gradient in college enrollment for students above the cutoff.”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Solis (2017)
In Chile, college enrollment is 16 percentage points higher for college applicants who just barely qualify for loans (from a baseline college enrollment rate around 30 percent).
“Examining college applicants around the test score cutoff, Solis (2017) finds that college enrollment is 16 percentage points higher for college applicants who just barely qualify for loans (from a baseline college enrollment rate around 30 percent); he also finds that the program virtually eliminates the income gradient in college enrollment for students above the cutoff.”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Solis (2017)
There is some direct evidence that aid can narrow socioeconomic gaps in enrollment.
“there is some direct evidence that aid can narrow socioeconomic gaps in enrollment (e.g.Solis, 2017).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Solis, 2017
Cites
The nature of credit constraints and human capital
Lochner, L. J., & Monge-Naranjo, A. (2011) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.101.6.2487 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
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College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions
Dynarski, S., Page, L., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w30275 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Black, S., Denning, J., Dettling, L., Goodman, S., & Turner, L. (2020) · doi:10.3386/w27658 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The Distributional Effects of Student Loan Forgiveness
Catherine, S., & Yannelis, C. (2023) · Journal of Financial Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jfineco.2022.10.003 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Blanden, J., Doepke, M., & Stuhler, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w29979 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
- Authors
- Solis, A.
- Venue
- Journal of Political Economy
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2017-04
- Volume
- 125
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 562-622
- ISSN
- 0022-3808 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-534X
- OpenAlex
- W93284228
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 84.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Political Economy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- access to credit, college enrollment, student loans, educational attainment, household income, college entrance examination, Chile, regression discontinuity design
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