Eligibility for federal financial aid strongly impacts potential students’ decisions about going to college

Every year, the U.S government gives billions in financial aid for people on low incomes who want to go to college. But is this federal spending actually effective in closing the education gap between low and high income Americans? By examining the period between 2001 and 2006, when those who had been convicted of drug offenses were banned from federal aid, Emily Owens and Michael Lovenheim find that without aid, students are forced to delay their college entry by two years, and are generally less likely to enroll in college. They also find that the ban on aid did not deter young people from committing drug offences.