Susan Dynarski

Susan Dynarski is the Patricia Albjerg Graham Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with prior appointments at the University of Michigan (Ford School of Public Policy, School of Education, Department of Economics, and Institute for Social Research). She holds affiliations with the National Bureau of Economic Research and has held visiting roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Princeton University. Dynarski specializes in education policy, particularly college access, financial aid, and reducing inequality in education. Her research employs large-scale datasets and causal inference methods to evaluate policies like charter schools, financial aid programs, and class size effects.

Education: A.B. in Social Studies (Harvard), M.P.P. (Harvard), Ph.D. in Economics (MIT).

Research Interests: Dynarski focuses on dismantling barriers to higher education through evidence-based interventions. Her work highlights behavioral economics principles, such as the impact of financial certainty and simplification of aid processes. She advocates for policies like free tuition programs contingent on early commitment and reduced application complexity.

Awards: Carnegie Fellow (2020), Spencer Foundation Award (2017), Golden Quill Award, and American Academy of Arts & Sciences membership (2022). She frequently contributes to New York Times op-eds and advises federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Grants and Service: Dynarski co-directed the Education Policy Initiative and Michigan Education Data Center. She has served on editorial boards of journals like the American Economic Journal and chaired the Association for Education Finance and Policy. Her work bridges academia and policy, influencing tax reforms, student loan systems, and K-12 reforms.