Ebook: The impact of student loans on educational attainment: The case of a program at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

En las últimas décadas, la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)
ha otorgado préstamos estudiantiles a algunos estudiantes con
rendimiento académico satisfactorio pero que enfrentan problemas
económicos que pudieran poner en peligro su continuidad como
estudiantes. Aunque el programa fue creado hace más de cuarenta años,
sus resultados nunca han sido evaluados en forma rigurosa. Este
documento intenta evaluar hasta qué punto el programa ha beneficiado a
los estudiantes. Debido a que la información disponible proviene de
records académicos, el cumplimiento de este objetivo requiere el uso de
técnicas modernas diseñadas para trabajar con datos no experimentales.
Estimando por el método de propensity score matching, encuentro un
impacto estadísticamente significativo sobre el número de semestres
necesarios para culminar los estudios solo cuando el estudiante recibió el
préstamo por 6 semestres o más. También se encontró un impacto
significativo sobre la probabilidad de concluir los estudios seis años y
medio después de haberlos iniciado, para el caso de estudiantes que
recibieron el préstamo por 6 semestres o más. Sin embargo, tal efecto es
pequeño.
Abstract
During the past decades, the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (known
as PUCP) has been giving student loans to some of its students with
satisfactory academic performance but who face certain economic
problems which might interrupt their studies. Although this program was
created more than forty years ago, its results have not been rigorously
evaluated. This document attempts to assess to what extent the program
has benefited students. Because the collected data come from academic
2
and social records, the completion of this task requires using modern
techniques specifically designed to work with non experimental data.
After estimating by propensity score matching with multiple treatments, I
find a statistically significant impact of this program on the time a student
employs to complete the course of study at PUCP (measured in
semesters) only when a student was awarded with a loan for 6 semesters
or more. That effect is not significantly different from zero when the loan
lasts less than 6 semesters. Similar results were found when I analyzed
the impact on the probability of degree completion of student loans,
where students with loan were more likely to meet all graduation
requirements by 6 years and a half after they start studying at PUCP.
Again this effect was significant only when the student participates in the
program for six semesters or more. However, the impact on that
probability was small.
JEL Classification Codes: C13, C14, C21, I22
Key Words: Student Loans, Matching, Treatment Effect