The impact of needs-based scholarship on academic performances: evidence from three Italian universities

The aim of the paper is twofold. First, we estimate the effect of the needs-based scholarship (i.e., the EDISU grant) in the three universities located in the Piedmont region (University of Turin, the Polytechnic of Turin and the University of Piemonte Orientale) on dropout, timely graduation, number of CFUs obtained and GPA achieved. Second, we examine the factors that may influence the retention of the grant. We rely on administrative records for students who first enrolled at the university in autumn 2016. The first part of the paper is more descriptive and we focus on the retention of the grant, looking at the role played by socio-demographic characteristics and previous schooling. In the second part of the study, we use a regression discontinuity design to identify the causal effect of the EDISU grant on academic performance (i.e., drop-out, GPA, number of credits and late graduation), comparing students in the neighbourhood of the ISEE threshold (indicator of the equivalent economic condition of the household) that certifies eligibility for the grant