From Assets to School Outcomes: How Finances Shape Children's Perceived Possibilities and Intentions

Background:

People do not always take action to attain their desired possible selves. Whether made consciously or unconsciously, an individual's choice to take action makes sense only when an open path exists toward attaining the desired self. Following this logic, if the path to college appears closed, children from families with few assets may lower self-expectations for school success and plan to put less effort into academics. To motivate school-focused effort, teachers describe current school effort as investment for the future, not as fun now. Given this framing, students who perceive that school will matter little to their future may begin to show signs of academic disengagement. The probable result of this disengagement over time is the kind of school under attainment noted in the literature on income- and race-based achievement gaps. Information about need-based financial aid, which can make financing college possible for low-income and minority students with few assets, is typically provided toward the end of high school, but well after significant performance decrements occur. We investigate the effects of two mindsets: that current effort in school matters for the future, and that current effort in school does not matter for the future. We propose that compared to a closed-path mindset (e.g., costs make college out of reach), an open-path mindset (e.g., need-based financial aid is available) will increase aspirations and planned effort toward academic success as early as middle school.

Methods:

In Study 1, we directly manipulate salient mindset (open-path, closed-path). In Study 2, we follow up by comparing open-path to a no-mindset prime control condition and controlling for current academic attainment. Both studies focus on low-income and minority youth. For each study, 2 middle-school classrooms were randomly selected from low-performing middle schools with a high proportion of low-income and minority students (n=48 students in each study). Classrooms were randomly assigned to a condition. The mindset prime was a text that the experimenter distributed and read aloud. Data were collected through a brief questionnaire; in Study 2, grade-point averages were collected from the school administration.

Results:

We document that thinking of the path to college as closed versus open influences the achievement goals and plans of children as young as 11 years old. Specifically, we manipulate mindset about college as either “closed” (expensive) or “open” (can be paid for with financial aid) among low-income early adolescents. Adolescents assigned to an open-path condition expected higher grades than those assigned to a closed-path condition (Study 1), and planned to spend more time on homework than those assigned to a no-prime control condition (Study 2). An open-path mindset improves planned effort when students are not behind academically (Study 2).

Conclusions:

We demonstrate effects on expectations and planned academic effort to show that simply hearing about financial aid opportunities for college creates an immediate effect on current intentions. Our results suggest that children and parents in low-asset contexts should be provided with information on the financial accessibility of college early, before gaps in student achievement levels emerge.