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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1320.8(b)(3).
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