Student Aid and Mobility of BA Students (SAMBA)

Last registered on March 19, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Student Aid and Mobility of BA Students (SAMBA)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015535
Initial registration date
March 14, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 19, 2025, 9:23 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Denmark
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Kristoffer Balle Hvidberg
Affiliation
Aarhus University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Helena Skyt Nielsen
PI Affiliation
Aarhus University
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PI Name
Elena Mattana
PI Affiliation
Aarhus University
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PI Name
Maria Knoth Humlum
PI Affiliation
Aarhus University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-03-17
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Student loans, social mobility
JEL code(s)
I22
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study involves a survey comprising an information provision experiment, a discrete choice experiment, and a probability choice experiment. The survey will be distributed to Danish bachelor’s students at Danish universities. The survey will be launched in March 2025, with approximately 20,000 students invited to participate.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Humlum, Maria Knoth et al. 2025. "Student Aid and Mobility of BA Students (SAMBA)." AEA RCT Registry. March 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15535-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We will divide respondents into three groups that receive different information related to student aid: Basic, Uptake, Norms.
Intervention (Hidden)
The survey includes an information provision experiment.

We will divide respondents into three groups that receive different information related to student aid.

1. Basic:
This group will be our “control” group. They will only receive very basic information on student aid that most students will be aware of already. We give them this basic information to ensure that information provision in itself is not a part of any potential treatment effects when we compare this group to the two “treatment” groups.

2. Uptake:
This group will get the same information as the Basic group, but will also learn the share of students from their field of study at their educational institution who take up student debt. We elicit their prior belief about this share before the treatment in order to investigate the effect of correcting potential misperceptions.

3. Norms
This group will get the same information as the Basic group. In addition, the group receives information on social norms regarding the take up of student loans. The provided information is based on the responses collected in the pilot survey. We elicit the respondents' prior belief about the share of bachelor's students that agree with a statement regarding loan take up before informing them about the correct share to investigate the effect of correcting potential misperceptions.
Intervention Start Date
2025-03-17
Intervention End Date
2025-05-04

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Express interest in getting more information
Intended loan take up in 2025
Intended loan amount while studying
Intention to work while studying
Actual loan take up in 2025
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The first 4 outcomes are elicited in the survey. We will obtain information on the 5th from administrative records.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Share of loan takers among bachelor's students from the respondent's own program
Having a student job while studying: Based on administrative records
Actual loan amount while studying: Based on administrative records
Valuations based on stated preference experiments: Elicited in survey
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Share of loan takers among bachelor's students from the respondent's own program: Elicited in survey ("first stage" of information treatment on perceptions).
Having a student job while studying: Based on administrative records
Actual loan amount while studying: Based on administrative records
Valuations based on stated preference experiments: Elicited in survey

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We have a control group and two treatment groups.

One of the treatment groups will receive feedback on whether their perceptions of student loan take up in their field of study at their educational institution were correct or not.

The other will receive feedback on whether their perceptions of other students' social norms regarding student loans were correct or not.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is done by the platform used for the design of the survey and collection of the responses. DST Survey and Norstat are responsible for setting up the survey. They will implement quotas to ensure that the sample sizes of the treatment groups are similar across treatments.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
3,000 students.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Please see the analysis plan for an overview of the survey flow.

For the information treatment, the 3 groups will be of similar size, approximately 1,000 students each.

In order to be able to rule out potential effects of the stated preference experiments, we have six groups that are independent of treatment status in the information experiment:

1. Only outcomes: 5%
2. Mechanisms and outcomes: 5%
3. Probability choice experiment, mechanisms and outcomes: 10%
4. Discrete choice experiment, probability choice experiment, mechanisms and outcomes: 70%
5. Discrete choice experiment, mechanisms and outcomes: 5%
6. Discrete choice experiment and outcomes: 5%
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Please see the pre-analysis plan for a discussion.
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Aarhus University’s Research Ethics Committee/Research Ethics Committee - BSS
IRB Approval Date
2024-11-12
IRB Approval Number
BSS-2024-165-S1
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials