Financial incentives and educational investment: The impact of performance-based scholarships on student time use
Abstract
We evaluate the effect of performance-based scholarship programs for postsecondary students on student time use and effort. We find evidence that financial incentives induced students to devote more time and effort to educational activities and allocate less time to other activities. Incentives did not generate impacts after eligibility ended and did not decrease students’ interest or enjoyment in learning. Evidence also suggests that students were motivated more by the incentives than simply the effect of additional money. A remaining puzzle is that larger scholarships did not generate larger responses in terms of effort.
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MDRC performance-based scholarships have positive effects on academic outcomes.
“explicit performance-based scholarships such as those evaluated by MDRC have found positive effects on academic outcomes (Patel & Valenzuela, 2013;Richburg-Hayes et al. 2009;Barrow & Rouse, 2018;Mayer, Patel, & Gutierrez, 2016).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Barrow & Rouse, 2018
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References 49 · Cited by 33
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- Authors
- Barrow, L., & Rouse, C. E.
- Affiliations
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Barrow, Lisa
- ORCID
- Barrow, Lisa
- Venue
- Education Finance and Policy
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2018-08
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 419-448
- ISSN
- 1557-3060 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-3079
- OpenAlex
- W3123712806
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 8.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Education Finance and Policy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
- Keywords
- financial incentives, student time use, educational effort, postsecondary students, student motivation, educational investment, joyful learning
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