Family Background and the Responses to Higher SAT Scores

Arbeitspapier

Using discontinuities within the Swedish SAT system, we show that additional admission opportunities causally affect college choices. Students with high-educated parents change timing, colleges, and fields in ways that appear consistent with basic economic theory. In contrast, very talented students with low-educated parents react to higher scores by increasing overall enrolment and graduation rates. Remarkably, most of this effect arises from increased participation in college programs and institutions that they could have attended even with a lower score. This suggests that students with low-educated parents face behavioral barriers even in a setting where colleges are tuition-free, student grants are universal and application systems are simple.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 8362

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Education ; Higher Education; Research Institutions ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
• Subject: educational choice ; intergenerational transmission of education ; regression discontinuity design

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Graetz, Georg ; Öckert, Björn ; Skans, Oskar Nordström
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/223434
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET