Higher Education, Higher Costs: An Income-Contingent Approach

An examination of different methods of paying for higher education with an emphasis on an income-contingent approach. The paper applies this method to a real-world institution, Radford University in Virginia. The limitations of this method and gender disparities in higher education are also considered. The author\u27s entry essay for the 2014 Undergraduate Research Awards is included

Proceed to Olympus: The Iconography of the Return of Hephaestus

The ancient Greek god Hephaestus frequently appears as a processional figure accompanied by Dionysus and his thiasos on vases dating to the Archaic and Classical periods, depicted in such a manner on no fewer than sixty-three vases attributed to the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.1 The earliest surviving appearance of this procession occurs on the iconic François Vase2 and most likely represents Hephaestus’s return to Mount Olympus. Although examination of the sixty-three vases published in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) fails to yield individual schemas dominating specific time periods, it does reveal certain styles cycling through over the two hundred year period. As the theme rises in popularity, artists choose to incorporate or omit specific elements originally presented on the François vase, setting it as the prototype of the myth’s appearance in art. Contemporary trends then influence the nuances of the depiction, resulting in differences in the manners of procession, attitudes toward satyrs, and emphases on deformity. --Author\u27s introduction. The PDF includes the author\u27s entry submission essay for the 2013 Undergraduate Research Awards

Higher Education, Higher Cost: An Income-Contingent Approach

Tuition continues to climb at a rate exceeding inflation while real wages remain stagnant, resulting in declining affordability and availability of higher education in the United States. In considering the international income-contingent repayment programs (ICRS) of Australia and the U.K. as well as recent proposals made for the states of Washington and Oregon, I apply an income-contingent model to a small state-funded university in Virginia. Using a case study and net present value approach with data published by Radford University, I analyze my proposed ICRS program to determine its efficacy and sustainability as an alternative payment method. My findings suggest that my proposed ICRS program is both feasible and sustainable for the class of 2014. I also find that the program is advantageous for the participating students, promoting equity across genders and mitigating the burden they assume immediately following graduation when their disposable income typically is at its lowest levels. The proposed program addresses the affordability of higher education crisis in that it makes higher education more accessible to students who would otherwise be deterred from pursuing it. Furthermore, the model’s simplicity lends itself to being a more transparent payment option in a sea of increasingly byzantine financing options

Short-term effects of the COVID-19 state of emergency on contraceptive access and utilization in Mozambique.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly disrupted the global delivery of preventive health care services, as a large number of governments have issued state of emergency orders halting service delivery. However, there is limited evidence on the realized effects of the pandemic and associated emergency orders on access to services in low-income country contexts to date. To address this gap, this paper analyzes administrative data on utilization of contraceptive health services by women referred via community health promoters in two large urban and peri-urban areas of Mozambique. We focus on the period immediately surrounding the national state of emergency declaration linked to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 31, 2020. Data reported for 109,129 women served by 132 unique promoters and 192 unique public health facilities is analyzed using logistic regression, interrupted time series analysis and hazard analysis. The results demonstrate that the imposition of the state of emergency is associated with a modest short-term drop in both service provision and utilization, followed by a relatively rapid rebound. We conclude that in this context, the accessibility of reproductive health services was not dramatically reduced during the first phase of the pandemic-related emergency

The effects of text reminders on the utilization of family planning services: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial in urban Mozambique

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this recordIntroduction: Reduction of unmet need for contraception is associated with enhanced health outcomes. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in urban and peri-urban Mozambique to analyze the effects of text message reminders encouraging utilization of clinic-based family planning services within a sample of women who received clinic referrals from community health workers. Methods: This trial was conducted within a sample of women served by one organization (Population Services International) implementing the Integrated Family Planning Program (IFPP), in which community health workers provide information and clinic referrals to women who report interest in contraception. The evaluation enrolled 5,370 women between January 20 and December 18, 2020 who received a referral, reported access to a mobile phone, and provided written consent. Women were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received a series of eight text message reminders over a month encouraging them to follow up with a clinic visit, or to a control group receiving status quo follow-up. An intention-to-treat analysis was conducted using administrative data to analyze the effect of reminders on the probability of a clinic visit and contraceptive uptake following counseling. The final analysis includes 3,623 women enrolled; 1,747 women were lost to follow-up. Results: Women assigned to receive the text reminders are weakly more likely to visit a clinic (risk difference 2.3 percentage points, 95% CI: -0.003—0.048, p=0.081), and to receive a contraceptive method at a clinic (2.2 percentage points, 95% CI: -0.004—0.048, p=0.091), relative to a base rate of 48.0% and 46.9%, respectively. The effect on clinic visits is larger and statistically significant in the prespecified subsample of women enrolled prior to the COVID-19 related state of emergency (3.2 percentage points, 95% CI: 0.001—0.063, p=0.042). Conclusion: Evidence from this trial suggests that text message reminders may be a promising nudge that increases the probability that women received contraception.USAI