Money, mentoring and making friends: The impact of a multidimensional access program on student performance

• This study uses a quasi-experimental design to evaluate an Irish university access program.
• The program provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic students.
• We find the program has a positive effect on student performance.
• The program reduced drop-out rates and improved test scores and graduation rates.

This study evaluates a comprehensive university access program that provides financial, academic and social support to low socioeconomic students using a natural experiment which exploits the time variation in the expansion of the program across high schools. Overall, we find positive treatment effects on first year exam performance, dropout rates, and final graduation outcomes. We find similar results for access students entering through the standard admissions system and those entering with grade concessions. This suggests that access programs can be effective at improving academic outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged students.