Free University? An Investigation of Australia’s 1974 Free Higher Education Policy and Its Impact on Enrollment, Degree Completion, Later-Life Occupational Status, and Income
by Annie Cui
Abstract
To what extent has the free higher education policy of 1974 impacted Australian
students’ decisions of university enrollment, degree completion, and later-life human capital
development? In this paper, I analyze the impact of the policy from both national descriptive
statistics and individual-level enrollment and degree completion decisions using the Australian
Household Income and Labour Dynamics Survey. I find that the policy has significantly
increased the likelihood of female enrollment in higher education, low-income students’
likelihood of diploma degree completion, and is positively associated with later-life occupational
status. However, this study does not find a clear relationship between the policy, bachelor’s
degree attainment, and later-life disposable income. Policymakers need to carefully consider the
efficiency and efficacy of broad-based tuition policy instruments when imagining bridges to
achieve universal access to higher education.
Professor Robert Garlick, Faculty Advisor
Professor Peter Arcidiacono, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Seminar Advisor
JEL Classification: I22; I23; I26
To What Extent Does Relative Maturity Affect Test Scores Between Tracked and Untracked Education Systems? Evidence From TIMSS 2019
by Qi Xuan Khoo
Abstract
Most education systems enforce a cutoff birth date for school entry, and some group students based on their perceived ability—a practice known as tracking. While the former policy leads to maturity gaps among early learners, the concomitant performance gaps may or may not be exacerbated by the latter. Analyzing the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 dataset to study how relative maturity affects test scores with tracking, this paper finds that older students outperform their younger peers. This relative maturity test score premium is accentuated by tracking, and these effects are found to be more significant in mathematics than in science.
Robert Garlick, Faculty Advisor
JEL codes: I2, I24, I28
Peer Effects & Differential Attrition: Evidence from Tennessee’s Project STAR
By Sanjay Satish
Abstract
This paper explores the effects of attrition on student development in early education.
It aims to provide evidence that student departure in elementary schools has educational
impacts on the students they leave behind. Utilizing data from Tennessee’s Project STAR
experiment, this paper aims to expand upon the literature of peer effects, as well as attrition,
in public elementary schools. It departs from previous papers by utilizing survival analysis to
determine which characteristics of students prolonged participation in the experiment. Clustering
analysis is subsequently employed to group departed students to better understand
the various channels of attrition present in STAR. It finds that students who left Project
STAR were more likely to be of lower income and lower ability than their peers. This paper
then uses these findings to estimate the peer effects of attrition on students who remained
in the experiment and undertakes a discussion of potential sources of bias in this estimation
and their effects on the explanatory power of peer effects estimates.
Professor Robert Garlick, Faculty Advisor
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Classification: I, I21, I26, H4, J13
Deciphering Chinese Financing To African Countries
By Gwen Geng
The paper considers what attracts Chinese aid and Chinese investment to African countries and what kinds of Chinese financing projects are more likely to have unrevealed financing amount. The main database used is AidData: China’s Official Finance to Africa 2000-2012. It contains 2356 Chinese financing projects to 50 African countries. The results suggest that Chinese aid supports less developed economies, while Chinese investment favors countries with resource abundance and political conditions conducive to profit-making. The findings show that projects with unrevealed funding amounts tend to fall under investment and the government sector among other categories, raising questions on financing secrecy.
Advisors: Robert Garlick and Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: F13, F54, N47, N57, O24, R11, R15
