Experimental Design Details
Abstract:
The objectives of this research are (1) to assess the impact of the HEERF III cash transfer on student achievement and (2) test the effectiveness of two interventions for disbursing the funds. Students will receive the cash transfer as a lump sum or distributed in monthly installments, and with or without labeling the cash transfer with additional support. These objectives will be accomplished with regression discontinuity designs, difference-in-difference analysis, and randomized controlled trials. Overall, this research aims to contribute to understanding of how to effectively distribute emergency financial aid and for whom it is most likely to have a beneficial impact.
Keywords: Higher Education, Emergency Aid, Labeled Cash Transfer
Experimental Design
Sampling
Students will be eligible to receive $1,500 through HEERF III if they meet the following criteria: the student is registered as active, completed their FAFSA, has an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) at or below 500, has not received a HEERF grant already, and self-reports exceptional financial need on the HEERF application. As of October 2021, this sample includes approximately 18,000 eligible students. These students will also have to self-report exceptional financial need to be eligible to receive funding.
On Oct 26 2021, we distributed invitations to all eligible students with email. The invitation contained a link to an application form that includes a prompt to indicate whether the student has exceptional financial need. As of Nov 16, 2021 10,432 students of the eligible students completed the application and will receive funds.
We will distribute cash transfers until the $15M fund is depleted, which provides a sample of 10,432 students for the RCT analysis. Funds were initially disbursed in November 2021. We will query student outcomes from the WGU database seven months after the intervention in May 2022.
Randomization: By computer
Randomization level: Individual
Intervention
All eligible applicants will be randomly assigned to one of four groups of students: (1) those receiving a single, unlabelled $1,500 payment; (2) those receiving four monthly, unlabelled payments of $375; (3) those receiving a single, labeled $1,500 payment; and (4) those receiving four, labeled payments of $375.
Labeled cash transfer program feature:
All students will receive an email notifying them of having received the cash transfer. Students assigned to the labeled condition will receive different messaging and a link to an online portal with information on and links to resources within and outside the university. Resources include services that are expected to support students’ educations, such as online tutoring, resources to support family care, mental health counseling, learning technology and internet products (e.g. hot spots).
Survey
All students who received the cash transfer will receive an additional survey at one month and four months after distribution. The survey will include items for eliciting how students spent their cash transfer and follow-up measures of well-being and financial need.