Evaluating Impact of Student Debt on Early Career Choices

Gettysburg College, Gettysburg PA

Investigators

Abstract

The U.S. scientific community and industry groups have observed that the United States is not producing sufficient numbers of skilled native workers to meet demand, especially in the physical sciences, computer science, and engineering fields that drive innovation. Merit-based aid, for example, scholarships and fellowships, reduces both the immediate cost to students of investing in higher education, and students' longer-term risk of high cumulative student debt loads after graduation. This project will evaluate both efficacy and consequences of merit awards for increasing retention of women and racial/ethnic minority students in STEM degree programs, and in the scientific workforce after graduation. The project examines the extent of any observed effects of merit aid on underrepresented students' early career choices are specifically due to reducing students' risk of higher cumulative debt. This research aims to inform policies and institutional strategies to retain U.S. students and graduates in science and engineering careers. In addition, because graduates in scientific and technical fields also have greater expected lifetime earnings, encouraging broader participation in these fields by historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, and other economically-disadvantaged individuals may help to address persistent and growing socioeconomic inequality. The project will employ linear and nonlinear econometric estimation for causal inference, leveraging two existing data sources. First, using newly-developed institutional administrative data from a large public Minority-Serving Institution with student-level observations matched to publicly available statistical data, the project will assess whether income-contingent merit aid in particular, the U.S. Department of Education SMART grants, or prior community college or associate's degree transfer credit affected STEM degree completion among observably STEM-interested undergraduate students. Then, using longitudinal survey data under restricted-use license from the NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, the project will estimate the influence of different higher education funding mechanisms on students' cumulative debt load at graduation, and further whether higher cumulative student debt deters recent graduates in STEM fields from pursuing science and engineering occupations.