PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jeffrey T. Denning
AU  - Patrick Turley
TI  - Was That SMART?
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.52.1.0414-6340R1
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 152--186
VI  - 52
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/52/1/152.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/52/1/152.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2017 Jan 01; 52
AB  - We examine whether students respond to immediate financial incentives when choosing their college major. From 2006–2007 to 2010–2011, low-income students in technical or foreign language majors could receive up to $8,000 in SMART Grants. Since income-eligibility was determined using a strict threshold, we determine the causal impact of this grant on student major with a regression discontinuity design. Using administrative data from public universities in Texas, we determine that income-eligible students were 3.2 percentage points more likely than their ineligible peers to major in targeted fields. We measure a larger impact of 10.2 percentage points at Brigham Young University.