Susan M. Dynarski

Susan M. Dynarski is a professor of public policy, education, and economics at the University of Michigan, holding appointments at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, School of Education, Department of Economics, and Institute for Social Research. With a focus on inequality in education, Dr. Dynarski uses datasets and other quantitative tools to study the effects charter schools, financial aid, and high school reform have on academic achievement and educational attainment. After finding that many high-achieving low-income high school students do not apply to selective colleges, Dr. Dynarski and her colleagues designed University of Michigan’s High Achieving Involved Leader (HAIL) Scholarship to seek out such students early in the college application process and guarantee them financial aid if the university accepted them. The program has substantially increased the number of low-income students applying to University of Michigan, and for her Carnegie project, Dr. Dynarski will dig deeper, researching the HAIL program’s effect on the students’ performance and persistence in college. Dr. Dynarski has consulted for a number of government agencies, testified before several congressional committees, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times.