Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/314496 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17599
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Campus closures due to COVID19 created uneven student-level exposures to the challenges of home-based virtual learning. Using university administrative data, and exogenous class-level differences in pre-pandemic on-campus housing assignments for parallel trend validation, this paper unpacks student-by-course variations in grade expectations using within-semester switches in grade option choice as a lens. We find causal evidence that distance from campus and internet access affected grade option choices in select student groups (female, non-URM, non-STEM). By tracking access to friends at the student-course level using administrative records, we find that within-class peer support can offset learning challenges even in virtual environments.
Subjects: 
satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade option
COVID-19
distance education
learning outcomes
JEL: 
I20
I29
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.