No abstract

This paper provides the first causal evidence on the impact of college adviser quality on student outcomes. To do so, we exploit a unique setting where students are randomly assigned to faculty advisers during their first year of college. We find that higher adviser value added (VA) substantially improves freshman year GPA, time to complete freshman year and four-year graduation rates. Additionally, higher adviser VA increases high-ability students’ likelihood of enrolling and graduating with a STEM degree. Our results indicate that allocating resources towards improving the quality of academic advising may play a key role in promoting college success. (JEL I23, I26, J24, J31, O15)

No abstract

This paper provides the first causal evidence on the impact of college advisor quality on student outcomes. To do so, we exploit a unique setting where students are randomly assigned to faculty advisors during their first year of college. We find that higher advisor value-added (VA) substantially improves freshman year GPA, time to complete freshman year and four-year graduation rates. Additionally, higher advisor VA increases high-ability students' likelihood of enrolling and graduating with a STEM degree. Our results indicate that allocating resources towards improving the quality of academic advising may play a key role in promoting college success.