{"id":"https://openalex.org/G5487872003","display_name":"Evaluating Impact of Student Debt on Early Career Choices","description":"The U.S. scientific community and industry groups have observed that the United States is not producing\r\nsufficient numbers of skilled native workers to meet demand, especially in the physical sciences,\r\ncomputer science, and engineering fields that drive innovation. Merit-based aid, for example,\r\nscholarships and fellowships, reduces both the immediate cost to students of investing in higher\r\neducation, and students' longer-term risk of high cumulative student debt loads after graduation. This\r\nproject will evaluate both efficacy and consequences of merit awards for increasing\r\nretention of women and racial/ethnic minority students in STEM degree programs, and in the scientific\r\nworkforce after graduation. The project examines the extent of any observed effects of merit aid\r\non underrepresented students' early career choices are specifically due to reducing students' risk of higher\r\ncumulative debt. This research aims to inform policies and institutional strategies to retain U.S. students\r\nand graduates in science and engineering careers. In addition, because graduates in scientific and\r\ntechnical fields also have greater expected lifetime earnings, encouraging broader participation in these\r\nfields by historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, and other\r\neconomically-disadvantaged individuals may help to address persistent and growing socioeconomic\r\ninequality.\r\n\r\nThe project will employ linear and nonlinear econometric estimation for causal inference, leveraging two\r\nexisting data sources. First, using newly-developed institutional administrative data from a large\r\npublic Minority-Serving Institution with student-level observations matched to publicly available\r\nstatistical data, the project will assess whether income-contingent merit aid in particular, the U.S.\r\nDepartment of Education SMART grants, or prior community college or associate's degree transfer\r\ncredit affected STEM degree completion among observably STEM-interested undergraduate students.\r\nThen, using longitudinal survey data under restricted-use license from the NSF National Center for\r\nScience and Engineering Statistics, the project will estimate the influence of different higher education\r\nfunding mechanisms on students' cumulative debt load at graduation, and further whether higher\r\ncumulative student debt deters recent graduates in STEM fields from pursuing science and engineering\r\noccupations.","funder_award_id":"1735883","funder":{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320306076","display_name":"National Science Foundation","doi":"10.13039/100000001"},"funded_outputs":["https://openalex.org/W4290805781"],"funded_outputs_count":1,"parent_awards":[],"sub_awards":[],"sub_awards_count":0,"amount":230647.0,"currency":"USD","amount_usd":230647.0,"amount_usd_basis":"usd_native","recipients":[],"recipient_countries":[],"recipient_regions":[],"research_scope":{"is_research":true,"basis":"funder_default","tier":1},"funding_type":"grant","funder_scheme":"Standard Grant","start_date":"2017-08-01","end_date":"2019-09-30","start_year":2017,"end_year":2019,"landing_page_url":"https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1735883","doi":null,"provenance":"nsf_award_search","lead_investigator":{"given_name":"Margaret","family_name":"Blume-Kohout","orcid":null,"role_start":null,"affiliation":{"name":"Colgate University","country":"United States","ids":null},"author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5044281215","display_name":"Margaret E. Blume\u2010Kohout","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3236-0030"},"institutions":[]},"co_lead_investigator":null,"investigators":null,"works_api_url":"https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=awards.id:G5487872003","primary_topic":null,"topics":null,"institution_awarded":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I39660569","display_name":"Colgate University","ror":"https://ror.org/05d23ve83","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I39660569"]}],"updated_date":"2026-11-10T03:01:11.000Z","created_date":"2026-07-13T04:41:43.000Z"}