Post-secondary education
When and Why Does College Advising “Work:” Evidence from Advise TN
College advising programs increase the likelihood students apply to and enroll in higher education. However, few are proven effective at scale. We leverage the rollout of Advise TN across 33 communities to estimate causal impacts of a novel advising program on college enrollment, persistence,… more →
No Pay? No Way! Teacher Compensation Reforms and the Market for Graduate Degrees
Graduate degrees in education provide financial stability for many institutions, yet reformers have sought to decouple teacher pay from these credentials. Without a wage premium, educators may skip advanced study, reducing enrollment at nearby universities. Using a natural experiment in… more →
More Often or Longer? The Effects of the Academic Schedule on Postsecondary Academic Outcomes
One of the most common scheduling decisions in higher education is the determination of biweekly or triweekly classes. On the surface, these two formats are equivalent in terms of the number of minutes in a course (75 minutes twice a week or 50 minutes three times a week). However, the two… more →
Selling Student Success: A Critical Analysis of Predictive Analytics Vendors in Higher Education
As predictive analytics become increasingly embedded in higher education, commercial vendors offering these tools play a growing role in shaping institutional decision making, particularly through identifying students deemed “at risk.” In this qualitative study, we analyzed 161 publicly… more →
Fast Track to Success? A Mixed Methods Evaluation of Condensed Course Formats at Tennessee Community Colleges
As colleges face increasing pressure to improve student outcomes, one solution gaining traction is the adoption of condensed courses (i.e., shortened academic terms). We employ quasi-experimental methods to estimate the effect of enrolling in a condensed course on course- and student-level… more →
Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment
Declining U.S. college enrollments have triggered questions about the health of the postsecondary sector. Using institution-level data, we make four points. First, such declines are driven not by the four-year sector but by two-year community colleges, which have apparently shrunk by over 30%… more →
How do place-based scholarships affect student borrowing and academic outcomes? Lessons from Atlanta
Previous research shows that Achieve Atlanta’s placed-based scholarship and associated services meaningfully improve college persistence and completion. In this follow up study that uses similar methods but additional and more detailed data, we examine whether scholarship recipients exhibit… more →
The Long-Term Effects of Rank in Elementary School
We estimate the long-term consequences of math and reading rank within an elementary school on short and long-term outcomes. We find that higher rank leads to better outcomes. Students ranked at the top in grade 7 perform up to 0.33 standard deviations higher on future school exams, are more… more →
Higher Education as Regional Development: Labor Market Impacts of Nigeria’s 2011 Federal University Expansion
This paper examines the causal impact of higher education expansion on regional labor markets and human capital development. Exploiting the 2011 establishment of nine federal universities across previously underserved Nigerian states, we implement a difference-in-differences approach to analyze… more →
Behind the Scenes: Faculty-Staff Collaboration in a Student Success Effort
Interventions to improve postsecondary student success often involve supports that are external to the college classroom, although there is growing evidence that faculty involvement in interventions can improve student outcomes. This paper explores the challenges that arise when faculty and… more →
Can Peer Group Design Improve Engagement in Online STEM Courses? The Role of Motivation to Lead
Peer interaction is important for student engagement and success in higher education and becomes even more critical in online STEM education, where limited interaction can undermine motivation and belonging—key factors for success in rigorous STEM coursework. Despite the widespread use of peer… more →
Resilience and Transformation: The Pandemic’s Effects on Texas Community Colleges
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education, particularly community colleges serving significant proportions of traditionally disadvantaged students. This mixed methods study examines how Texas community colleges responded to the crisis and the extent to which they institutionalized… more →
The Design of Promises: The Structure of Local College Affordability Programs in the United States
We analyze 314 local college affordability programs (i.e., “Promise” or “free college” programs) using a novel dataset detailing, for each program, rules stipulating what programs provide (provision), where they may be used (applicability), and who may use them (eligibility). We perform three… more →
Exploring Test-Optional Admissions Policies: Patterns in Applications, Enrollment, and Diversity During the COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of higher education, including college admissions processes. Since 2020, numerous universities and colleges have adopted test-optional policies, allowing applicants to decide whether to submit standardized test scores. Although such policies have been… more →
Bureaucracy and Burden: Understanding Take-up of a Need-Based Financial Aid Program
Social welfare programs, including college financial aid, often only reach a fraction of eligible beneficiaries. We examine this problem through the lens of Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), a state need-based grant aid program. We conduct a large-scale mixed-methods study using data… more →
Political Views and College Choices in a Polarized America
We examine the role of students’ political views in shaping college enrollment decisions in the United States. We hypothesize that students derive utility from attending institutions aligned with their political identities, which could reinforce demographic and regional disparities in… more →
Toward More Equitable Learning Environments: Insights from Digital Trace Data on Inclusive Instructional Design Features
Seminal teaching and learning theories converge on the critical role of instructional design in promoting equity and inclusivity in higher education. However, large-scale evidence remains limited as to which specific design features promote more equitable outcomes across diverse student… more →
Financial Aid For Future Educators: Assessing A Federal Grant's Impact On Students' Postsecondary Decisions
Created in 2007, the federal TEACH grant program is a large federal financial aid program that seeks to attract postsecondary students to the teaching profession by providing financial assistance to help pay for a teaching degree. This paper describes the uptake and usage of the federal TEACH… more →
Efficiency or Burnout? The Effects of Condensed Course Formats on Student Achievement in Community Colleges
Condensed courses—those that compress instructional content into a shorter time frame—are increasingly popular in higher education. While they offer greater flexibility, concerns remain that the accelerated pace may compromise learning. Using administrative data from a state community college… more →
Causal Returns to Education
Using 182 estimates from 140 studies in 55 countries, this paper compares ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variables (IV) estimates of the private returns to schooling. IV returns average 9.7 percent—38 percent higher than OLS—and exceed OLS in nearly 80 percent of cases, with the… more →