|
Abstract Financial aid is an effective guarantee of equal opportunity for higher education. Most existing studies focus on the form, content, and effectiveness of financial aid. Nevertheless, there exist few deep researches concerning about the influences of financial aid as information in the progress of students choosing colleges or universities. Under the background of Key University Special Admission Policy, this paper conducts a randomized field experiment for rural senior students in high schools of a certain state in Yunnan province. Different information interventions about admission, cost and financial aid of the Policy are given to them, in order to find out the effect mechanism of the Policy on the choices for key universities of rural students living in remote, undeveloped and ethnic areas. The paper finds that the admission and financial aid information strengthen the role of student academic ability, and significantly enhance the willingness of rural students with higher academic ability to choose key universities outside the province. However, cost information obstructs students in poor families to go outside. In key high schools, students with higher academic ability are more willing to leave the province, but different information interventions may change their choices. Only when financial aid information is complete can the original intention of the Policy be ensured.
|
|
Received: 21 January 2019
|
|
|
|