ABSTRACT

This paper assesses the effect of need-based grants on the performance of university students in Italy. We performed a series of between-universities and within-universities propensity score matching analyses to evaluate the effect of grants on several student performance indicators, such as dropout rate, first year credits and efficiency of study. Our findings suggest that financial aid has a positive, substantial and statistically robust effect on university students’ performance and on if and when they complete their undergraduate degree courses. The positive impact is heterogeneous across universities, while few differences were detected for subgroups of students. Reinforcing financial aid policies can simultaneously help disadvantaged students and improve overall academic performance in Italian universities.

摘要

本文评估了基于需求的赠款对意大利大学生表现的影响。我们进行了一系列大学之间和大学内部倾向得分匹配分析，以评估助学金对几个学生表现指标的影响，例如辍学率，第一年学分和学习效率。我们的研究结果表明，经济资助对大学生的表现以及是否以及何时完成本科学位课程具有积极，实质性和统计学上的积极影响。各个大学的积极影响是不同的，而学生亚组的差异却很小。加强经济援助政策可以同时帮助处境不利的学生，并提高意大利大学的整体学习成绩。