The Pell Grant Experiments evaluation is a two-part, five-year demonstration study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that focuses on the effects of expanded access to Pell grants on students' employment and earnings. The primary outcome of interest is (1) the employment status and earnings of students who participate in the study while secondary outcomes include (2) students' experiences with and participation in education and training, (3) measures of student debt and financial aid, and (4) the extent of participation in job search assistance services.
This study consists of two experiments, each of which will examine the impact of a single change to the Pell grant eligibility criteria. The first experiment will relax the prohibition on receipt of Pell grants by students with a bachelors' degree. Individuals eligible for the first experiment must have a bachelor's degree, be unemployed or underemployed, and pursue a vocational training program up to one year in duration. The second experiment will reduce the minimum duration and intensity levels of programs that Pell grant recipients must participate in from 15 weeks with 600 minimum clock hours to 8 weeks with 150 minimum clock hours. Each experiment will operate through a set of PGE schools that provide education and training services that qualify as PGE programs.
Participants in both experiments will be randomly assigned to either (1) a treatment group, which will have expanded access to Pell grants; or (2) a control group, which will not have access. Within both experiments, the treatment group will be very similar to the control at the time of random assignment except for access to Pell grants. Subsequent differences in the employment and earnings outcomes between treatment and control group members can then be attributed to Pell grant access. The first experiment will involve roughly 28 PGE schools with an average of 100 students participating per school. The second experiment will involve roughly 40 PGE schools with an average of 200 participating students per school. The expected sample of both experiments combined is approximately 10,800 students. Data for this evaluation will come from participants' FAFSA applications, PGE school administrative records, SSA earnings statements, and a survey of study participants. The study participant enrollment period is expected to last from July 2012 to January 2014. Data extracts from FAFSA applications will occur between October and December during years 2012-2014. Administrative data extracts from PGE schools will occur between January and March during years 2013-2015. A stratified survey of treatment and control group members with a targeted total sample size of 2,000 will be fielded between July 2014 and March 2015.
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PGE_OMB_PartB_070312.docx
PGE Data Forms