#  Susan Dynarski (Harvard) 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **January 28, 2026** 

 12:00PM - 01:30PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS Knafel Building, Room K354**  



 

 [ Join via Zoom arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/j/93110218231?pwd=Gmka2cTdUty8AcWec90hWmcSllXtkP.1) 

 



 

### Title

A Pathway to Mobility: Shifting Low-Income Students To Higher-Quality Degrees

### Abstract

Earnings inequality has increasingly grown within education groups, especially among college graduates (Autor, Goldin, and Katz 2020). Returns to a bachelor’s degree vary sharply across institutions, yet low-income students disproportionately earn degrees at open-access and less selective colleges. We evaluate a randomized intervention designed to increase enrollment and degree attainment at a highly selective public flagship among high-achieving, low-income students. Students offered a guarantee of four years of free tuition at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor shifted enrollment away from less selective colleges. The offer increased the probability of earning a BA from a highly selective institution by 11.6 percentage points (78 percent) and increased four-year BA completion by 4 percentage points (11 percent), with no effect on six-year BA attainment. We find no evidence of academic mismatch, including no reduction in STEM degree completion. Finally, the induced shift into the flagship implies a projected 40 percent increase in age-30 earnings among students induced to attend the flagship.



 

 



 

 

 Share on:- [     Facebook ](#)
- [     Twitter ](#)
- [     Linkedin ](#)
 


 Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://appliedstatsworkshopgov3009.hsites.harvard.edu/node/1337106/event-feed.ics)  Copy link link