Affordability & Attainment in Wisconsin Public Higher Education . July 8, 2011

The causal impact of the wisconsin scholars grant on undergraduate Time useDouglas N. HarrisSara Goldrick-RabChris TaberUniversity of Wisconsin at Madison Affordability & Attainment in Wisconsin Public Higher Education. July 8, 2011

Why Study Time Use? • In the Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study • Why were the average effects so modest? • Can we account for the observed variation in impacts by subgroup? • More broadly: • Why are college completion rates so low, especially for low-income students? • Why are students studying less? • Leisure College USA (Babcock and Marks) • Is this why learning gains are apparently “exceedingly small or non-existent”? (Arum and Roksa) • Is financial aid making students lazy? (Vedder)

Theories of Income and Time Use • Economics • Standard model distinguishes individuals’ time in work and leisure • Leisure a “normal good,” increasing with income • Might therefore expect grant to yield increased leisure • True even if with loan reduction (still an increase in wealth) • Where do study and class time fit in? They have elements of both work & leisure • Sociology • Time use depends on family background, relationships, social capital, cultural capital, etc. • Students whose time use is influenced more by their parents may yield a more positive response to the grant (e.g. bottom third) • Possibility of both positive and negative effects of income, depending on context

Data • Time use information from student surveys • Same four-year sample of students as in prior paper • Focus on Fall, 2009 survey, one year after WSG grant

Time Use Categories D= Daily; W= Weekly

Digging Deeper • Study Time Quality • We also consider how students spent their time– not just what they spent it on • Research by Arum & Roksa (“Academically Adrift”) suggests, for example, that studying alone or in the library results in higher-quality studying than studying with friends • “Extensive” Work Time • See Benson & Goldrick-Rab next

How Did WSLS Students Spend Their Time? Control Treatment • Note: Our results suggest that Pell students have noticeably less leisure time than students in the Arum and Roksa sample

Did Grant Recipients and Non-Recipients Have Equivalent Initial Time Use?

Avg. Effects of Grant on Time Use ** ** ***

Avg. Effects in Percentage Terms ** ** ***

Avg. Effects on Study Time Quality

Differential Impacts of the Grant • Goal: see whether impacts on college outcomes by persistence propensity are reflected in time use • Again, much less statistical power due to smaller N’s in subgroups • Equivalence tests very important

Effects of Grant on Time Use: Students with Low Propensity to Persist **

Effects of Grant on Time Use:Students with High Propensity to Persist *

Effects of Grant on Study Time Quality: Low Propensity to Persist ***

Effects of Grant on Study Time Quality: High Propensity to Persist *

Summary • This is all exploratory and preliminary • That said, the grant seems to have led students to study more, work less, and have less leisure • Again, what is true on average is not true for all • Average effects on time use concentrated in the low persistence propensity group • No average effect on study quality masks improvement in low persistence propensity group • Does this “explain” the differences in educational outcomes? Not necessarily, effects of time use on outcomes is hard to establish • More to come

Implications and Next Steps • Does financial aid make these students lazy? • Not for these students: if anything, it reduced leisure • And these students don’t have as much leisure to start with • Evidence is suggestive that financial constraints may play a role in college experience, especially for the least well off • Sara is planning additional ways of measuring and analyzing time use for the 2012 cohort, including text messaging

Affordability & Attainment in Wisconsin Public Higher Education . July 8, 2011