BEST UP Project

Last registered on August 20, 2019
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
BEST UP Project
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004586
Initial registration date
August 15, 2019

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
August 20, 2019, 10:58 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Germany
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
C. Katharina Spiess
Affiliation
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Heike Solga
PI Affiliation
WZB

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2012-09-01
End date
2016-12-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Although Germany has invested in the higher education sector, which led to an increase in the share of students entering college, Germany still ranks closer to the bottom among OECD countries when it comes to social mobility. Still only 62 percent of college-eligible students whose parents have no more than vocational training enroll in college compared to 81 percent of their peers who have a least one parent with college degree. This research project jointly conducted by DIW Berlin and WZB aimed at investigating what drives this “education gap” and whether information about college benefits and costs might be relevant to narrow this gap. The literature in education economics and education sociology identifies among others financial constraints and missing information as two important reasons why students from non-college families, who obtain a college-entrance degree (Abitur in German), do not enroll in tertiary education. The research objective of this project is to determine educational policy measures that could affect students decision making in favor of tertiary education. This study sheds light on whether the provision of information in a randomized controlled trial with more than 1,000 German high school students results in higher college enrollment rates. We collected data from students prior to the information intervention and followed them for at least four consecutive years.

Other project participants: Frauke Peter, Alessandra Rusconi, Martin Ehlert, Claudia Finger, Johanna Storck, Vaishali Zambre
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Solga, Heike and C. Katharina Spiess. 2019. "BEST UP Project ." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4586-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2013-05-01
Intervention End Date
2016-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Intention to enroll
Application and number of applications
Enrollment
Knowledge about costs, admission requirements, and labor market outcomes (benefits)
Study persistence
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The list of twenty-seven schools were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The information treatment group consisted of nine schools that received an information workshop. The financial treatment group comprised nine schools, where 81 students were offered a one-year stipend of 300 Euro/month. The control group consisted also of nine schools that served the purpose of a “pure” control.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Stratification using coarsened exact matching with school type, district, cohort size, share female students, share students with migration background. Matched schools were randomly selected within school types one to information treatment, one to financial treatment, and one to control. Randomization with a random draw from the hat.
Randomization Unit
Schools
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
27 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
about 1,600 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
9 schools received (information workshop)
9 schools were assigned to financial treatment arm (81 students were adressed)
9 schools served as control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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)

Abstract
Although the proportion of students enrolled in college increased in the last decades, students from non-college family backgrounds remain underrepresented in higher education around the world. This study sheds light on whether the provision of information in a randomized controlled trial with more than 1,000 German high school students results in higher college enrollment rates. One year prior to high school graduation, we treated students in randomly selected schools by giving an in-class presentation on the benefits and costs of higher education as well as on possible funding options for college education. We collected data from students prior to the information intervention and followed them for four consecutive years. We find evidence that an information intervention increases students’ application as well as their enrollment rates, in particular for students from non-college backgrounds with enrollment intentions prior to treatment. Moreover, treated students persist in college at a similar rate as students in the control group, i.e. they are not more likely to drop out of college. Our results indicate that a low-cost information intervention is an efficient tool to encourage students to translate their college intentions into actual enrollment.
Citation
URL
https://www.diw.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=diw_01.c.607445.de

Reports & Other Materials