This paper examines the impact of receiving need-based aid, which includes a fee waiver and additional cash support, on students’ university matriculation and academic performance among aid applicants accepted to university in Portugal. The paper uses a regression discontinuity approach. We are able to measure the effect, at the intensive margin, on various short- and longer-term outcomes, thanks to precise administrative data. We find that the fee waiver has a small positive effect on matriculation, but no effect on performance and persistence measured as the likelihood of obtaining the enrolled credits, the credits needed for the aid renewal, graduating, and matriculating into second and third years. In a context of low tuition fees and weak merit requirements, these findings suggest that financial aid alone may not be sufficient to improve student outcomes.
GUTHMULLER Sophie;
MERONI Elena Claudia;
2026-01-23
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
JRC131175
1873-7382 (online),
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775725001323,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131175,
10.1016/j.econedurev.2025.102752 (online),
| Name | Country | City | Type |
|---|
This document is only visible at the Commission level.
You are not authorized to publish or distribute it outside the European Commission.
This is a public document. You can share this publication.
Datasets
| ID | Title | Public URL |
|---|
Dataset collections
| ID | Acronym | Title | Public URL |
|---|
Scripts / source codes
| Description | Public URL |
|---|
Additional supporting files
| File name | Description | File type |
|---|