What Does Free Community College Buy? Early Impacts from the Oregon Promise

Gurantz, Oded

doi:10.1002/pam.22157

Cited by 54 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Turning to differences based on program design features, previous studies suggest first-dollar programs (e.g., Kalamazoo Promise) may have greater effects on student enrollment in college than last-dollar programs (e.g., Knox Achieves, Pittsburgh Promise, and Oregon Promise). In particular, the Kalamazoo Promise led to an estimated 11 percentage-point increase in college-going rates (Billings, 2018), compared to roughly 5 percentage-point increases from Knox Achieves, the Pittsburgh Promise, and the Oregon Promise (Carruthers & Fox, 2016; Gurantz, 2019; Page et al, 2019). Although, as mentioned previously, Nguyen (2020) found large enrollment effects of the Tennessee Promise, a last-dollar program, at eligible institutions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges

Gándara

2020

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

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Promise programs are proliferating across the United States, with wide variation in their design. Using national data on 33 Promise programs affecting single, 2-year colleges, this study examines program effects on first-time, full-time college enrollments of students by race/ethnicity and gender classification. Results suggest Promise programs are associated with large percent increases in enrollments of Black and Hispanic students, especially students classified as females, at eligible colleges. Promise programs with merit requirements are associated with higher enrollment of White and Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander female students; those with income requirements are negatively associated with enrollment of most demographic groups. More generous Promise programs are associated with greater enrollment increases among demographic groups with historically higher levels of postsecondary attainment.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges

Gándara

2020

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

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“…In addition, students could use Cal Grant A to attend any in-state private institution, with the award subsidizing between $9,000 and $9,700 depending on the year. 6 Students could not use Cal Grant A to attend a community college, but the award could be put on hold for up to two years for students who wished to delay enrollment in a four-year institution. 7 Baseline eligibility for the Cal Grant requires an applicant to be a California resident (either a US citizen, permanent resident, or eligible noncitizen), have no defaults on federal loans, and have not previously earned a bachelor's degree.…”

Section: A Overview Of the Cal Grant Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Long-Run Impacts of Financial Aid: Evidence from California’s Cal Grant

Bettinger

Gurantz

Kawano

et al. 2019

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

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We examine the long-term impacts of California’s state-based financial aid by tracking educational and labor force outcomes for up to 14 years after high school graduation. We identify program impacts by exploiting variation in eligibility rules using GPA and family income cutoffs that are ex ante unknown to applicants. Aid eligibility increases undergraduate and graduate degree completion, and for some subgroups, raises longer-run annual earnings and the likelihood that young adults reside in California. These findings suggest that the net cost of financial aid programs may frequently be overstated, though our results are too imprecise to provide exact cost-benefit estimates. (JEL H75, I21, I22, I23, I26, I28)

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“…Page and Scott‐Clayton (2016) provide a comprehensive review of the economics literature on policies to improve college access, considering studies of the impact of financial aid, as well as evidence on informational and behavioral nudges. Two recent studies in this journal suggest the impact of programs to promote community college enrollment through free tuition or generous financial aid are small (Gurantz, 2020) or zero (Anderson et al., 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing Community College Completion Rates Among Low‐Income Students: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of a Case‐Management Intervention

Evans¹,

Kearney²,

Perry³

et al. 2020

J Policy Anal Manage

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Community college completion rates are low, especially among low-income students. The existing policy and research attention has primarily focused on academic and financial challenges, but there is ample reason to think that non-academic obstacles might be key drivers of dropout rates for low-income students. This study focuses on the role of "life barriers" and investigates the effectiveness of intensive case-management services for low-income community college students. We evaluate the impact of the Stay the Course (STC) intensive case-management program through a multi-armed randomized controlled trial evaluation conducted between 2013 and 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. Analysis of administrative records indicates that STC significantly increased persistence and degree completion for women; estimates for the full sample are imprecise. The statistically significant estimates for women imply that STC tripled associate's degree receipt by 31.5 percentage points. We find no difference in outcomes between students in an emergency financial assistance (EFA) only treatment arm and the control group. Given program costs of $4,343 per person, the implied cost per additional associate's degree is $27,140. This study complements existing literature on financial and informational interventions designed to increase completion rates and is most closely related to the smaller literature examining coaching and mentoring interventions.

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What Does Free Community College Buy? Early Impacts from the Oregon Promise

Cited by 54 publications

References 41 publications

Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges

Promise for Whom? “Free-College” Programs and Enrollments by Race and Gender Classifications at Public, 2-Year Colleges

The Long-Run Impacts of Financial Aid: Evidence from California’s Cal Grant

Increasing Community College Completion Rates Among Low‐Income Students: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of a Case‐Management Intervention

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