Without a school degree, students can have difficulty in the labor market. To improve the lives of upper …-secondary school dropouts, German states instituted a school reform that awarded an interim degree to high-track students upon …

Students from low-income families are eligible to student aid under the federal students' financial assistance scheme … received by eligible students to raise enrolment rates into tertiary education. We view this reform as a 'natural experiment …

the effects of tuition fees on university enrollment of first-year students at German public universities. Our study … gender differences in enrollment behavior. Enrollment numbers of female students at universities that are located far away … of male students. …

studies have shown no effect on enrollment, we analyze the effects on students' budgets. To identify causal effects, we … exploited the natural experiment established by the introduction of fees. They did not affect students' spending behavior … students increased their budgets only marginally; fees did not increase social inequality. …