Incentives and Services for College Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Trial
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Author(s)
Angrist, Joshua
Lang, Daniel
Oreopoulos, Philip
Date Issued
January 2009
Journal
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Angrist, Joshua, Daniel Lang, and Philip Oreopoulos. 2009. "Incentives and Services for College Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Trial." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(1): 136–63.
DOI:10.1257/app.1.1.136
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
Many North American college students have trouble satisfying degree requirements in a timely
manner. This paper reports on a randomized field experiment involving two strategies designed
to improve academic performance among entering full-time undergraduates at a large Canadian
university. One treatment group (“services”) was offered peer advising and organized study
groups. Another (“incentives”) was offered substantial merit-scholarships for solid, but not
necessarily top, first year grades. A third treatment group combined both interventions, while a
control group received neither services nor incentives. Service take-up rates were much higher
for women than for men and for students offered both services and incentives than for those
offered services alone. No program had an effect on men’s grades or other measures of
academic performance. However, the Fall and first-year grades of women in the combined
group were higher than those of women in the control group, and women in this group earned
more course credits and were less likely than controls to be on academic probation. These
differentials persisted through the end of the second year, in spite of the fact that incentives were
given in the first year only. The results suggest that the study skills acquired in response to a
combination of academic support services and incentives can have a lasting effect, at least on
women, and that the combination of services and incentives is more promising than either alone.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics
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DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.1.1.136
