Institution-level dataset on HBCU financial aid and enrollment around the 2012 PLUS credit-standard tightening¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 9 claims (9 for) · 2 studies (1 causal, 1 associational), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 8 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's evidence base is institution-level data used to "examine financial aid and enrollment changes in the first two academic years affected by the new credit standards (2012-13 and 2013-14)." It covers PLUS loan volumes, other federal financial aid, and enrollment at HBCUs relative to other institutions. The article does not describe the dataset's source, coverage, or measures beyond this use.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Institution-level data on financial aid and enrollment covering the academic years affected by the credit-standard change

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• undergraduate students at historically Black colleges and universities

Target Learning Goals¶

• postsecondary access and persistence via financial aid

Claims¶

• HBCU enrollment continued to decline in 2013-14 despite the partial rebound in PLUS loans [+W]
• HBCUs experienced larger enrollment declines than other institutions after the PLUS tightening, particularly for first-year students [+W]
• Declines in PLUS loans at HBCUs in 2012-13 were not fully replaced by other types of federal financial aid [+W]
• PLUS loan volume at HBCUs declined substantially in 2012-13 after credit standards were tightened [+W]
• PLUS loans at HBCUs increased somewhat in 2013-14 after the Department of Education streamlined the PLUS appeals process [+W]
• Tightened PLUS credit standards changed both financial aid and enrollment at HBCUs across the first two affected academic years [+W]
• After the tightening of PLUS credit standards, both the share of PLUS participants and PLUS loan dollar amounts declined substantially at HBCUs [+W]
• The larger enrollment decline at HBCUs corresponded to the larger decline in PLUS recipients at those institutions [+W]
• Enrollment at HBCUs decreased more than enrollment at other institutions after the PLUS credit-standard tightening [+W]

Related Elements¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Matthew T. Johnson, Julie Bruch, Brian Gill. (2019). Changes in HBCU Financial Aid and Student Enrollment After the Tightening of PLUS Credit Standards. Journal of Student Financial Aid, vol. 48, issue 2. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/changes-in-hbcu-financial-aid-and-student-enrollment-after-the-tightening-of-plus-credit-standards