Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Impact of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on educational decisions and outcomes

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This study explores the effects of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and leverages several features of the benefit expansion to examine three questions of general interest in the areas of labor economics, public economics, and industrial organization. First, what is the effect of financial aid on older students? Second, does in-kind financial aid result in individuals choosing to enroll in more expensive (plausibly higher quality) institutions; and, if so, does this shift result in increased educational attainment? And, finally, what is the economic incidence of targeted federal financial aid (i.e., do colleges adjust institutional aid to offset the subsidy)? The study involves the creation of a unique panel of data on all recent active duty individuals from the Department of Defense linked with detailed post-secondary data from the state of Virginia and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). This will be the first dataset of its kind in terms of the detailed year by year information on military choices and post-military educational decisions and outcomes. The researchers will use difference-in-differences, triple difference, and regression discontinuity empirical approaches to answer these questions.The proposed research aims to contribute to the academic literature on the effects of financial aid on individuals and institutions, the effect of in-kind versus conditional cash transfers for education, and the economic incidence of targeted subsidies to enrollment in higher education. While the literature on the enrollment effects of financial aid on traditional students is quite developed, the effects on non-traditional students and the effects of financial aid and school match on attainment are open questions. This will be the first study of federal financial aid that uses both over time and across state variation in the degree of benefit expansion.In addition to specific interest in military veterans, the analyses will contribute to a better understanding of how to tailor existing and future financial aid programs to better achieve their goals. Understanding the role that the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits play in potentially helping hundreds of thousands of veterans, the vast majority of whom are first-generation students, go to and stay in college is critical in evaluating the mark this GI Bill will leave sixty years after the original GI Bill that contributed to a near doubling of college enrollment in less than a decade, and is credited as a driving force behind the creation of the modern middle class. Helping individuals to reenter civilian life successfully or invest in additional skills to advance their military careers has large national security implications. Despite the clear import of this topic there is essentially no information available. This project makes an important step in filling the gap.