Abstract

The dearth of information pertaining to scholarships represents a significant challenge in Italy’s policy framework for ensuring access to education. This randomised controlled study, conducted on a representative sample of students in their final year of secondary school in Piedmont (academic year 2022/23), first highlights the extent of the informational gaps. Specifically, only 3% of students are aware of how to apply for a university scholarship, 6% are aware of the eligibility criteria, and less than 9% know the institution responsible for awarding them. Subsequently, a comparison of the university enrollment rate (in 2023/24) of students who received an informational intervention on the benefits of the Right to University Education (DSU), with a particular focus on scholarships, with a control group demonstrated that providing information has a positive and significant impact on both the likelihood of applying for a scholarship and the continuation of studies at the university level, despite the intervention being relatively modest. The effect is particularly pronounced among those who had expressed ambivalence about pursuing their studies due to financial constraints, with an increase of 8.3 percentage points. No impact was observed among vocational school graduates, who have traditionally demonstrated a lower propensity to enroll in university.