Search and Filter
Higher education
How Powerful Are Promises? A Systematic Review of the Causal Mechanisms and Outcomes of "Free College" Programs in the United States
Tags: Higher education, Efficacy“Free college” (sometimes called Promise) programs are common in U.S. higher education. Reviewing 88 studies of 25 state and local programs, I provide a nuanced picture of the mechanisms through which these programs may work and their likely effects on students, communities, and colleges. Some… more →
Exploring the Relationship Between Test-Optional Admissions and Selectivity and Enrollment Outcomes During the Pandemic
Kelly Rosinger, Dominique J. Baker, Joseph Sturm, Wan Yu, Julie J. Park, OiYan Poon, Brian Heseung Kim, Stephanie Breen.Tags: Higher educationMost selective colleges implemented test-optional admissions during the pandemic, making college entrance exam scores optional for applicants. We draw on descriptive, two-way fixed effects, and event study methods to examine variation in test-optional implementation during the pandemic and how… more →
Experimental Evidence of the Impact of Re-Enrollment Campaigns on Long-Term Academic Outcomes
Tags: Higher education, EquityMost students who begin at a community college do not complete their desired credential. Many former students fail to graduate due to various barriers rather than their academic performance. To encourage previously successful non-completers to re-enroll and eventually graduate, a growing number… more →
Staff and Faculty Unionizations in Higher Education, 2007-2023
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Higher educationLabor organizing efforts grew following the Covid-19 pandemic in American higher education institutions. This research brief examines unionization trends at private colleges and universities from 2007 through 2023, revealing staff as the main force behind unionization attempts, followed by… more →
Should College Be “Free”? Evidence On Free College, Early Commitment, and Merit Aid From An Eight-Year Randomized Trial
Tags: Higher education, Student supportsWe provide evidence about college financial aid from an eight-year randomized trial where high school ninth graders received a $12,000 merit-based grant offer. The program was designed to be free of tuition/fees at community colleges and substantially lower the cost of four-year colleges. During… more →
Marginal Returns to Public Universities
This paper studies the returns to enrolling in American public universities by comparing the long-term outcomes of barely admitted versus barely rejected applicants. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of all… more →
How Early Morning Classes Change Academic Trajectories: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Topics: Student LearningTags: Higher educationUsing a natural experiment which randomized class times to students, this study reveals that enrolling in early morning classes lowers students' course grades and the likelihood of future STEM course enrollment. There is a 79% reduction in pursuing the corresponding major and a 26% rise in… more →
College Course Shutouts
Tags: Higher educationWhat happens when college students are not able to enroll in the courses they want? We use a natural experiment at Purdue University in which first-year students are conditionally randomly assigned to oversubscribed courses. Compared to students who are assigned a requested course, those who are… more →
Public Good Perceptions and Polarization: Evidence from Higher Education Appropriations
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Higher educationTo understand the causes and consequences of polarized demand for government expenditure, we conduct three field experiments in the context of public higher education. The first two experiments study polarization in taxpayer demand. We provide information to shape beliefs about social returns on… more →
Does Corequisite Remediation Work for Everyone? An Exploration of Heterogeneous Effects and Mechanisms
The landscape of developmental education has experienced significant shifts over the last decade nationwide, as more than 20 states and higher education systems have transitioned from the traditional prerequisite model to corequisite remediation. Drawing on administrative data from Tennessee… more →
Do Students Respond to Sticker-Price Reductions?: Evidence from the North Carolina Promise
The North Carolina Promise is a state-level policy that reduced the cost of tuition for all students who attended one of three campuses in the University of North Carolina System starting in fall of 2018. We use IPEDS data and a synthetic control approach to examine how this tuition reduction… more →
Which Colleges Increase Voting Rates?
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceWe study how colleges shape their students' voting habits by linking millions of SAT takers to their college-enrollment and voting histories. To begin, we show that the fraction of students from a particular college who vote varies systematically by the college's attributes (e.g. increasing with… more →
The Benefits of Math Corequisite Support for Academic Outcomes for Students in Texas
An increasing body of robust evidence concludes that corequisite remediation in math and English is a cost-effective alternative to traditional developmental education, offering improved immediate course progression and potentially better persistence and completion. This is the first study to… more →
HBCU Enrollment and Longer-Term Outcomes
Using data from nearly 1.2 million Black SAT takers, we estimate the impacts of initially enrolling in an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) on educational, economic, and financial outcomes. We control for the college application portfolio and compare students with similar… more →
The Role and Influence of Exclusively Online Degree Programs in Higher Education
This study leverages national data and a quasi-experimental design to examine the influence of enrolling in an exclusively online degree program on students’ likelihood of completing their degree. We find that enrolling in an exclusively online degree program had a negative influence on students… more →
When Pell Today Doesn’t Mean Pell Tomorrow: Evaluating Aid Programs With Dynamic Eligibility
Topics: MethodsGenerally, need-based financial aid improves students’ academic outcomes. However, the largest source of need-based grant aid in the United States, the Federal Pell Grant Program (Pell), has a mixed evaluation record. We assess the minimum Pell Grant in a regression discontinuity framework,… more →
Strategic Disclosure of Test Scores: Evidence from US College Admissions
The impact of test-optional college admissions policies depends on whether applicants act strategically in disclosing test scores. We analyze individual applicants’ standardized test scores and disclosure behavior to 50 major US colleges for entry in fall 2021, when Covid-19 prompted widespread… more →
Out-of-State Enrollment, Financial Aid and Academic Outcomes: Evidence from Wisconsin
Tags: Higher educationScholars disagree about the effect out-of-state university students have on potential in-state students. Despite paying a premium to attend state universities, researchers argue that out-of-state students may come at a cost to in-state students by negatively affecting academic quality or by… more →
Experimental Evidence on "Direct Admissions" from Four States: Impacts on College Application and Enrollment
Complexity and uncertainty loom large in the college application process. We leverage a largescale experiment that reduces administrative burden through a proactive guarantee of admission coupled with tailored information, a simplified application form, and automatic fee waiver to test the… more →
Diversity Trends Among Faculty in STEM and non-STEM Fields at Selective Public Universities in the U.S. from 2016 to 2023
During the 2015-16 academic year, racial protests swept across college campuses in the U.S. These protests were followed by large university investments in initiatives to promote diversity, which combined with existing diversity dynamics, have helped to shape recent faculty diversity trends. We… more →