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Money, mentoring and making friends : the impact of a multidimensional access program on student performance

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Denny, Kevin, Doyle, Orla, O'Reilly, Patricia and O'Sullivan, Vincent (2010) Money, mentoring and making friends : the impact of a multidimensional access program on student performance. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick. Dept. of Economics. Warwick economics research paper series (TWERPS), Vol.2010 (No.932).

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Abstract

There is a well established socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment, despite much effort in recent decades to address this inequality. This study evaluates a university access program that provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic status (SES) students using a natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the program across schools. The program has parallels with US affirmative actions programs, although preferential treatment is based on SES rather than ethnicity. Evaluating the effectiveness of programs targeting disadvantaged students in Ireland is particularly salient given the high rate of return to education and the lack of intergenerational mobility in educational attainment. Overall, we identify positive treatment effects on first year exam performance, progression to second year and final year graduation rates, with the impact often stronger for higher ability students. We find similar patterns of results for students that entered through the regular system and the ‘affirmative action’ group i.e. the students that entered with lower high school grades. The program affects the performance of both male and female students, albeit in different ways. This study suggests that access programs can be an effective means of improving academic outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students.

Item Type:

Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)

Subjects:

L Education > LC Special aspects of education

Divisions:

Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Low-income college students -- Ireland, Affirmative action programs in education -- Ireland, Educational equalization -- Ireland

Series Name:

Warwick economics research paper series (TWERPS)

Publisher:

University of Warwick. Dept. of Economics

Place of Publication:

Coventry

Official Date:

2010

Dates:

Date	Event
2010	Published

Volume:

Vol.2010

Number:

No.932

Status:

Not Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

Funder:

Ireland. Higher Education Authority

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