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Higher education
Success Begets Success: The Dynamic Treatment Effects of Financial Aid Tournaments
Financial aid programs in higher education vary widely in design, including how aid is structured and the timing of provision. This paper studies the impact of financial aid provided as a repeated tournament and its dynamic treatment effects. Pooling administrative data that captures 32% of all… more →
Meeting People Where They Are: Experimental Evidence on Embedded Supports, Service Use, and Educational Outcomes
Many public services suffer from persistently low take-up despite high potential returns. A growing body of evidence suggests that information alone does little to close this gap; instead, hassle costs and default access points may be binding constraints on utilization. We test whether… more →
Does Coursework Matter? Uncovering the Role of Skills in the Returns to College
The continuing shift of the U.S. economy toward a high-skill base has increased the demand for college-educated workers. To understand how higher education prepares students for this evolving economy, a large body of literature in labor economics has focused on the causes and consequences of… more →
Unequal and Persistent Effects of Student Loan Policy: Evidence from Parent PLUS Reforms
Federal student loan policy is designed as a uniform intervention, yet institutions differ in their reliance on specific sources of financing. We study how these differences shape the transmission of policy shocks using two reforms to the Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (Parent PLUS)… more →
The Impact of the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard Decision on Undergraduate Demographics
The 2023 Supreme Court decision Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA) effectively ended the explicit consideration of race in college admissions. This paper examines the impact of SFFA on the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition of undergraduate… more →
When Demand Outpaces Supply: Flexible Staffing and the Making of Maryland's High School CS Teacher Workforce
U.S. high schools have rapidly expanded computer science (CS) education over the past decade, resulting in increased pressure to staff classrooms with qualified teachers. This study examines how Maryland high schools responded to rising CS enrollment from school year 2012-13 through 2023-24,… more →
Student and Faculty Same-Race Matching at Research Universities
Racial disparities in college persistence and completion remain substantial, yet relatively little evidence exists on how student–faculty interactions contribute to these gaps in research universities. This study examines the prevalence and consequences of student–faculty same-race matching… more →
Supporting Females in STEM: Evidence on Student-Instructor Gender-Matching in 4-Year Research Universities in Texas
Topics: Student LearningDespite progress in overall educational attainment, female students remain underrepresented in STEM fields. One proposed mechanism for improving female students' outcomes is exposure to same-gender faculty, yet evidence on both the prevalence and impacts of student–instructor gender matching in… more →
Understanding the Construction of Compliance with Anti-"DEI" Legislation
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceDespite documented harms of anti-“DEI” laws, little is known about the mechanisms that shape implementation to give these laws expanded and suppressive meaning. Guided by legal mobilization theory and repressive legalism, we examine how institutional actors implement legislation restricting… more →
Staffing and Resource Allocation in College Access Reform: How Dual Credit Shifts Educational Costs
Tags: Higher education, School districtsObjective. Dual credit (DC), or dual enrollment, is college-level coursework that confers credit towards both high school graduation and a postsecondary degree. As DC has grown rapidly across the country, this study provides needed evidence about how these courses shift… more →
State Merit Aid: Effects on College Enrollment, Labor Market Outcomes, and Government Revenue
This paper evaluates long-run effects of state merit aid programs that subsidize in-state college attendance. Using national survey data on college enrollment and U.S. Census data, I exploit staggered program adoption across states. Merit aid shifts students from out-of-state to in-state… more →
Unpacking the Long-Term Impact of Holistic Supports for Community College Students
Tags: Higher education, Student supportsThis paper presents longer-term findings from a randomized controlled trial of One Million Degrees (OMD), a comprehensive support program for community college students in the Chicago metro area that provides financial, academic, personal, and professional assistance. Results from an initial… more →
The Effect of Merit-Based Free Community College
Tags: Higher educationFree community college is often promoted as a way to expand access and reduce student debt, but may have unintended consequences if it reduces bachelor’s degree completion for students diverted from better resourced four-year universities. By examining a meritbased free community college program… more →
"Feel" as a Determinant of College Choice: Evidence from Campus Tour Weather
Tags: Higher educationThe feeling or impression that students get about enrolling in a particular college may be an important determinant of their college application decision. Combining institutional records on college campus tour participants over the last decade with hourly weather information, we leverage tour… more →
Dual-Enrollment Dosage Design: Conceptualization and Measurement of Student Profiles and School Structures
Dual-enrollment (“DE”), in which students enroll in college-level courses and receive college credit in high school, has become one of the most prominent strategies for promoting college access and readiness. DE models range from a la carte options or "random acts of dual-enrollment" to highly… more →
Exploring Factors Influencing Administrative Spending in Higher Education
Tags: Higher educationDespite increasing financial challenges facing much of higher education, relatively little is known about how institutions allocate resources to different activities, particularly in areas other than instruction.
Examining the Role of Policy Instruments in Supporting Public HBCUs’ College Affordability
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceThis study uses a multiple-case qualitative research design to examine the fiscal policy instruments that members of State Legislative Black Caucuses (SLBC) use to strengthen college affordability and broaden access for undergraduate low-income Black students attending public HBCUs. Guided by… more →
Scaling student support with conversational artificial intelligence
Topics: Student Well-BeingAI-enabled chatbots are increasingly used to support student success, yet evidence on their long-term sustainability and impacts remains limited. We examine the implementation of an AI-enabled text-messaging chatbot at a large, urban public university. Drawing on system observation, discussions… more →
Understanding How HBCUs Leverage Partnerships to Support Students’ Basic Needs
Topics: Student Well-BeingBasic needs insecurity has become a pressing equity issue in U.S. higher education, yet little research examines how historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) address students’ holistic needs. Guided by a practice-based, pragmatic analytic orientation and informed by a basic needs… more →
The Causal Effects of Federal Work-Study Offers on College Enrollment and Program Participation
Tags: Higher education, Student supportsFederal Work-Study (FWS) is a distinctive type of financial aid, originally intended to both reduce financial constraints and improve access to career-relevant job opportunities. Prior research on FWS has primarily focused on post-enrollment, post-program-participation outcomes, leaving… more →