Recent policy and research efforts have focused on simplifying the college-going process, improving transparency around college costs, and helping students make informed decisions. In 2012, the Obama administration released the “shopping sheet,” a standardized financial aid offer that is intended to provide students with simplified information about costs, loan options, and college outcomes. This paper examines the impact of the shopping sheet (adopted by more than 400 four-year colleges in two years) using: (1) administrative data from a field experiment among admitted and already-enrolled students at a public university, and (2) college-level data from a quasi-experiment among four-year colleges. Findings provide some evidence that information in the shopping sheet relating a college's graduation rate to other colleges led to decreased borrowing at colleges with poor graduation outcomes. Additionally, the shopping sheet decreased borrowing at colleges that enroll high shares of students receiving federal student aid and underrepresented minority students. These findings indicate the shopping sheet may be particularly salient to students who traditionally face higher informational barriers during the college-going process.

中文翻译：

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简化经济援助能否影响大学的入学和借贷？实验和准实验证据

最近的政策和研究工作集中在简化上大学的过程，提高有关大学成本的透明度以及帮助学生做出明智的决定。2012年，奥巴马政府发布了“购物单”，这是一种标准化的经济援助方案，旨在为学生提供有关成本，贷款选择和大学成绩的简化信息。本文使用以下方法研究了购物清单（400多家四年制大学采用的购物清单）的影响：（1）来自在一所公立大学的已录取和已经录取的学生的现场实验的行政数据，以及（2）来自四年制大学半实验的大学级数据。调查结果提供了一些证据，表明购物清单中与大学相关的信息 到其他大学的毕业率导致毕业成绩较差的大学的借贷减少。此外，购物清单减少了大学的借贷，这些大学招收了接受联邦学生资助的高比例学生和少数族裔学生。这些发现表明，购物清单对于那些在上大学过程中传统上面临更高信息障碍的学生可能尤其重要。