Higher Education.

• Position: National Bureau of Economic Research's program

The NBER's Working Group on Higher Education met in Cambridge on November 13. Director Charles T. Clotfelter of Duke University organized the meeting. The following papers were discussed:

Christopher M. Cornwell, Kyung Hee Lee, and David B. Mustard, University of Georgia, "The Effects of Merit-Based Financial Aid on Course Enrollment, Withdrawal and Completion in College" Discussant: Sarah Turner, NBER and University of Virginia

Albert J. Sumell and Paula E. Stephan, Georgia State University, and James D. Adams, NBER and University of Florida, "Capturing Knowledge: The Location Decision of New PhDs Working in Industry" Discussant: John de Figueiredo, NBER and MIT

Thomas J, Kane, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Evaluating the Impact of the DC Tuition Assistance Grant Program" Discussant: Eric Bettinger, NBER and Case Western Reserve University

Catharine Hill Gordon Winston, and Stephanie Boyd, Williams College, "Affordability: Family Incomes and Net Prices at Highly Selective Private Colleges and Universities" Discussant: Ronald G. Ehrenberg, NBER and Cornell University

Todd R. Stinebrickner, University of Western Ontario, and Ralph Stinebrickner, Berea College, "Credit Constraints and College Attrition" Discussant: Christopher Avery, NBER and Harvard University

David Marmaros, Google.com, and Bruce Sacerdote, NBER and Dartmouth College, "How Friendships Form" Discussant: David Zimmerman, NBER and Williams College

Using data from the longitudinal records of all undergraduates who enrolled at the University of Georgia between 1989 and 1997, Cornwell, Lee, and Mustard estimate the effects of HOPE scholarships on course enrollment, withdrawal, and completion, and on the diversion of course taking from the academic year to the summer. They find first that HOPE decreases full-load enrollments and increases course withdrawals among resident freshmen. This results in a 12 percent lower probability of full-load completion and an annual average reduction in completed credits of about 0.8 or 2 percent. The latter implies that between 1993 and 1997, Georgia resident freshmen completed almost 12,600 fewer credit hours than non-residents. Second, the scholarship's influence on course-taking behavior is concentrated on students whose GPAs place them on or below the scholarship retention margin. Third, the effect of the HOPE program increases with the lifting of the income cap. Fourth, these freshmen credit-hour reductions represent a...