COVID-19 diagnoses and university student performance: evidence from linked administrative health and education data

Abstract

We analyze the impact of COVID-19 diagnoses on student grades, retention, and on-time graduation at a large public university in the USA. Even though COVID-19 rarely causes major health complications for university students, diagnosis and quarantine may cause non-trivial disruptions to learning. Using event study analysis, we find that a COVID-19 diagnosis decreased a student’s term grade point average (GPA) modestly by 0.09 standard deviations in the semester of diagnosis without significant effects afterward. The results were more pronounced for male students, individuals with face-to-face instruction, and those with higher GPAs before the pandemic. We do not find a significant increase in the incidence of failing or withdrawing from a course due to diagnosis. In addition, we find no general evidence that the diagnoses delayed graduation or significantly altered first-year retention. However, the University experienced significant grade inflation during the pandemic, like other institutions, which exceeded the estimated effects of any COVID-19 diagnoses.