Nonpecuniary Returns to Selective Higher Education

Résumé

We study the long-run nonpecuniary returns to selective higher education using Colombia’s Ser Pilo Paga, which expanded access to high-quality universities for low-income students above a test-score cutoff. Combining an RD design with original survey data collected more than a decade after college entry, we show that access to selective universities substantially reshapes social and economic trajectories. In addition to increasing educational attainment and earnings, the program alters marriage markets and close friendships: recipients are more likely to have partners and close friends with higher educational attainment and higher social status. Educational aspirations and perceived social status also increase. At the same time, upward mobility is accompanied by worse health and lower subjective well-being: recipients are more likely to smoke regularly, report worse health, and exhibit lower life satisfaction. These findings suggest that selective higher education generates broad welfare effects beyond earnings, including both substantial gains and less visible costs. (with Luis Esteban Alvarez, Catherine Rodriguez, and Fabio Sánchez)