Students from poor, rural areas of China receive less secondary schooling than their urban peers in part because of high direct and opportunity costs. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to estimate the effectiveness of providing early commitment for financial aid (ECFA) in mitigating...

We estimate the impact of two early commitment of financial aid (ECFA) programs—near the start and one near the end of junior high school (seven than ninth grades, respectively)—on the out comes of poor, rural junior high students in China. Our results demonstrate that neither of the ECFA...

The rapid expansion of enrollment capacity in China's colleges since the late 1990s has come at the price of high tuition hikes. China's government has put forth financial aid programs to enable poor students to access higher education. Although studies have shown that poor high school students...