Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Informational Interventions and Students’ College Decisions

(Education)

Students face a number of informational barriers in the college-going process that may prevent them from making optimal investments in higher education. Over the past decade, policy, research, and advocacy attention has focused on reducing informational barriers and simplifying the college-going process (e.g., Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2005; Bettinger et al., 2012; Castleman & Page, 2015, in press; Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2006; Long, 2010; Scott-Clayton, 2012; Whitsett & O’Sullivan, 2012). Such work has demonstrated that sending students information about college admissions processes (Hoxby & Turner, 2013), providing assistance with FAFSA filing (Bettinger et al., 2012), and sending students text messages about college tasks (Castleman & Page, in press, 2015) can improve outcomes. While much of this work has focused on helping students apply for college and financial aid, students also encounter informational barriers regarding how to finance their education and what labor market outcomes to expect. The four papers in this panel evaluate the impact of informational interventions delivered at various stages of the college-going process and focused on college financing decisions and/or potential labor market outcomes. The author of the first paper, titled “The Effects of the College Scorecard on the Search for Colleges,” examines the impact of the College Scorecard, a consumer information tool with data on labor market outcomes and tuition costs, on students’ college searches. In the second paper, “Community College Students’ Use of Labor Market Information in Determining Course of Study,” the authors report students’ knowledge and use of labor market information in deciding on a major or program of study. The author of the third paper, titled “Student Borrowing at Community Colleges: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From an Informational Intervention,” evaluates the impact of an informational intervention designed to simplify financial aid award notifications and help students make more informed decisions. In the final paper, “Understanding How Information Affects Loan Aversion Among High School Seniors,” the authors examine how providing a short video to high school seniors about federal student loans and income-based repayment options impacts loan aversion. Collectively, these papers contribute to our understanding of how information shapes students’ decisions about whether and how much to borrow to finance their education and what academic major to pursue.