Susan Dynarski

Susan Marie Dynarski
Born	Chelsea, Massachusetts
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Harvard University Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Spouse	Robert (Bob) Brustman (1993 - 2017; his death)
Children	2
Scientific career
Fields	Economics
Institutions	Harvard University University of Michigan Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers
Doctoral advisors	Joshua Angrist Jonathan Gruber
Website	http://www.susandynarski.com/

Susan Marie Dynarski is a professor of public policy, education and economics at the University of Michigan, and co-director of the University's Education Policy Initiative.

Life

While neither of her parents were college graduates (her father was a high-school dropout), Dynarski earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from Harvard University. She then worked as a union organizer for six years, engaged in successful certification campaigns for clerical and technical employees at Harvard University and the University of Minnesota, before returning to Harvard for a Master of Public Policy degree and then earning a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Career

Dynarski began her academic career as an assistant and associate professor at the Kennedy School at Harvard University. She has been a visiting fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting faculty member at Princeton University. In addition to her current faculty positions at the University of Michigan, she is affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment, and she is a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Economic Studies Program.

Research

Dynarski's research focuses on the impact of financial aid on college students and their families, improving the design of such programs to achieve the greatest benefit to students (particularly those from low-income families) at the lowest cost to taxpayers, the effectiveness of charter schools, and the impact of price on private school attendance decisions. She is currently an associate editor of American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and has previously edited Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, The Journal of Labor Economics and Education Finance and Policy. She has been a board member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and is past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy.

One of the awards Susan Dynarski received is the "Public Service Matters" award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) for her work on college affordability and student debt, and the Robert P. Huff Golden Quill Award from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators for her research on student aid.

In 2013, Susan Dynarski, Joshua Hyman, and Diane Schanzenbach combined forces to write an article that would gain result of being awarded the Raymond Vernon Memorial Award for the best article in the Journal Policy of Analysis and Managment (a peer editing group).

Selected works

• Susan Dynarski, Katherine Michelmore, CJ Libassi, and Stephanie Owen (2018). "Closing the Gap: The Effect of a Targeted, Tuition-Free Promise on College Choices of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students". NBER Working Paper 25349.
• Dynarski, Susan (2003). "Does aid matter? Measuring the effect of student aid on college attendance and completion". American Economic Review. 93 (1): 279–288. doi:10.1257/000282803321455287.
• Dynarski, Susan (2000). "Hope for whom? Financial aid for the middle class and its impact on college attendance". National Tax Journal. 53 (3): 629–661. doi:10.17310/ntj.2000.3S.02. Archived from the original on 2014-09-17.
• Dynarski, Susan; Bailey, Martha (2011). "Inequality in postsecondary education". In Greg Duncan; Richard Murnane (eds.). Whither Opportunity. Russell Sage.
• Atila Abdulkadiroglu; Joshua D. Angrist; Susan M Dynarski; Thomas J Kane; Parag A Pathak (2011). "Accountability and flexibility in public schools: Evidence from Boston's charters and pilots" (PDF). The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 126 (2): 699–748. doi:10.1093/qje/qjr017.
• Dynarski, S. (2004). The New Merit Aid. In: Hoxby, C.M. (ed.). College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 63-97.
• Dynarski, S. (2008). Building the stock of college-educated labor. Journal of Human Resources, 43(3), pp. 576-610.
• Deming, D., Dynarski, S. (2010). College Aid. In: Levine, P.B., Zimmerman, D.J. (eds.). Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources are Limited. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 283-302.
• Dynarski, S. (2002). The behavioral and distributional implications of aid for college. American Economic Review, 92(2), pp. 279-285.
• Dynarski, S.M., Scott-Clayton, J.E. (2006). The Cost of Complexity in Federal Student Aid: Lessons from Optimal Tax Theory and Behavioral Economics. National Tax Journal, 59(2), pp. 319-356.
• Dynarski, S.M., Scott-Clayton, J.E. (2008). Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research. The Future of Children, 23(1), pp. 67-91.
• Dynarski, S. et al. (1997). Can families smooth variable earnings? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1997(1), pp. 229-303.
• Angrist, J.D. et al. (2012). Who benefits from KIPP? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31(4), pp. 837-860.
• Deming, D., Dynarski, S. (2008). The lengthening of childhood. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(3), pp. 71-92.
• Abdulkadiroglu, A. et al. (2009). Informing the debate: Comparing Boston's charter, pilot and traditional schools. Boston: Boston Foundation.
• Angrist, J.D. et al. (2016). Inputs and impacts in charter schools: KIPP Lynn. American Economic Review, 100(2), pp. 239-243.
• Angrist, J.D. et al. (2013). Stand and deliver: Effects of Boston's charter high schools on college preparation, entry, and choice. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(2), pp. 275-318.
• Dynarski, S., Hyman, J., Schanzenbach, D.W. (2013). Experimental evidence on the effect of childhood investments on postsecondary attainment and degree completion. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 32(4), pp. 692-717.

Public impact

Dynarski has testified before the US Senate Finance Committee, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the US House Ways and Means Committee and the President's Commission on Tax Reform. She advocates for simplifying the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to help more low-income students in the United States attend college. She has advised the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House, the Treasury the Department of Education and the Council of Economic Advisers on potential student aid reforms. She is a contributing columnist for The New York Times. The Chronicle of Higher Education named her one of the "top ten influencers and agitators of 2015," calling her "The Sensible Explainer."

Dynarski was one of the signees of a 2018 amici curiae brief that expressed support for Harvard University in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard lawsuit. Other signees of the brief include Alan B. Krueger, Robert M. Solow, George A. Akerlof, and Janet Yellen.