The Expansion of Eligibility in Indiana’s Voucher Program and Impacts on Student Participation and Sorting

This study examines how Indiana's Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP) evolved from a means-tested voucher program to one with near-universal eligibility and how this shift affected student participation and private school demographics. Using sixteen years of student-level data (2008–09 to 2023–24), we observed changes in voucher usage and private school enrollment patterns, especially when compared to public schools over the same time period. The most notable increase in voucher participation occurred among White students and higher-income families after the program’s income eligibility threshold rose to 400 percent of reduced-price lunch eligibility in 2023–24. Private school demographics also shifted over time. Following the program’s launch, Black student enrollment in private schools rose by 1 percentage point, with no further gains in later expansions. Hispanic student representation grew by 1 to 3 percentage points during initial and expanded eligibility phases. Lower-income student enrollment in private schools increased by 5 to 7 percentage points during early phases but dropped by 9 percentage points after the recent income threshold increase. These compositional changes varied across private schools by achievement level: earlier increases in Hispanic and lower-income students were concentrated in schools in the middle of the achievement distribution, while the recent decline in lower-income enrollment was most pronounced in lower-to-middle achieving schools, which also attracted a sizable proportion of the new higher-income entrants to the private school sector.