The Effects of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on College Enrollment and Completion

Bartik, Timothy J.; Hershbein, Brad J.; Lachowska, Marta

doi:10.3368/jhr.56.1.0416-7824r4

“…The wide first-dollar programs in Table 1—including the Kalamazoo Promise, the El Dorado Scholarship, and the New Haven Promise—are a more generous form of aid that provides the scholarship before other state and federal aid are applied to the financial aid package at a variety of colleges, effectively allowing students to use any additional aid for room and board, books, and living expenses. The most well-researched program is the Kalamazoo Promise program, which has led to large and significant impacts on college enrollment, credit hours earned, and the probability of obtaining a bachelor’s degree (Bartik et al, 2019). In addition, the Kalamazoo promise significantly increased the likelihood of enrolling in a 4-year college, effectively opening up the opportunity for students to attend more expensive 4-year colleges instead of 2-year colleges because of the wide instead of narrow design of the scholarship (Andrews et al, 2010; Bartik et al, 2019; Miller-Adams & Timmeney, 2013).…”

Section: The Impact Of Promise Programs On College Access and Affordabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most well-researched program is the Kalamazoo Promise program, which has led to large and significant impacts on college enrollment, credit hours earned, and the probability of obtaining a bachelor’s degree (Bartik et al, 2019). In addition, the Kalamazoo promise significantly increased the likelihood of enrolling in a 4-year college, effectively opening up the opportunity for students to attend more expensive 4-year colleges instead of 2-year colleges because of the wide instead of narrow design of the scholarship (Andrews et al, 2010; Bartik et al, 2019; Miller-Adams & Timmeney, 2013). The El Dorado scholarship program produces similarly positive impacts on postsecondary outcomes, with estimates indicating significant increases in college enrollment and bachelor’s degree attainment (Swanson & Ritter, 2020).…”

Section: The Impact Of Promise Programs On College Access and Affordabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Free Community College Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design

Bell

¹

2021

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

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In this article, I utilize a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effects of Tulsa Achieves—a prevalent and understudied type of tuition-free college program. In contrast to concerns regarding tuition-free community college suppressing bachelor’s degree attainment, I find that Tulsa Achieves increased the likelihood of transferring to 4-year colleges by 13 to 14 percentage points and increased bachelor’s degree attainment by approximately 2 percentage points. The estimates for shorter outcomes are underpowered to detect policy relevant effects, but suggest Tulsa Achieves increased college GPA and had a null impact on credit accumulation, retention, and graduation from Tulsa Community College.

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“…While a large fraction of the U.S. population is not currently participating in higher education, properly financed educational expansion will open opportunities for many—people will enroll, re‐enroll, and encourage others to enroll at much higher rates. These expectations stem from evidence from evaluations of promise programs in this country, free college policies abroad, and from studies of the impact of reducing college prices (Bartik, Hershbein, & Lachowska, 2019; Dynarski et al., 2018; Miller‐Adams, 2015). The expansion of opportunity will be far more effective at reducing inequality, and will be much more politically feasible, if debt burdens created by past policy errors are addressed.…”

Section: Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is the Problem With Student Debt?

Goldrick‐Rab¹,

Steinbaum²

2020

J Policy Anal Manage

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ADDRESSING THE STUDENT DEBT CRISISAs outstanding student debt has expanded rapidly-to more than $1.5 trillion in 2019-many observers have concluded that the student loan system is in crisis. Student loans are now the second largest category of household debt in the U.S., exceeded only by home loans. Since the federal government guarantees most of these loans, all American taxpayers have an interest in whether this expanding debt could ultimately place a direct burden on them. Furthermore, high student debt and defaults create a burden for student borrowers, lowering credit scores and making it more difficult to buy a house or achieve financial independence.If the expansion in student debt reflects a crisis in the student loan system, how should that crisis be addressed through policy? In this issue's Point/Counterpoint exchange, Sara Goldrick-Rab of Temple University and Marshall Steinbaum of the University of Utah argue that student debt is a symptom of the economic and administrative obstacles many students face in pursuing education beyond high school, and those obstacles have been amplified by recent reductions in state funding for higher education. The authors propose to reverse this trend in funding and make public higher education tuition-free, drastically reducing the need to rely on student debt to pursue higher education. In addition, they suggest that some outstanding student debt be written off by the government. In contrast, Adam Looney of The Brookings Institution and Constantine Yannelis of the University of Chicago prefer that policymakers focus on repairing the student loan system. They cite evidence that the current student debt crisis was caused by the rapid expansion in schools that offer little economic benefit to their graduates and the explosion in debt associated with these schools. This leads them to conclude that institutional accountability is critical to a stable student loan system. Hence, the government should restrict loan eligibility and loan amounts associated with attending any given school based on the outcomes of their students. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI thank Kevin Kelly of Mathematica for his outstanding help in organizing the Point/ Counterpoint section.

show abstract

“…While a large fraction of the U.S. population is not currently participating in higher education, properly financed educational expansion will open opportunities for many-people will enroll, re-enroll, and encourage others to enroll at much higher rates. These expectations stem from evidence from evaluations of promise programs in this country, free college policies abroad, and from studies of the impact of reducing college prices (Bartik, Hershbein, & Lachowska, 2019;Dynarski et al, 2018;Miller-Adams, 2015). The expansion of opportunity will be far more effective at reducing inequality, and will be much more politically feasible, if debt burdens created by past policy errors are addressed.…”

Section: Proposalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the Student Debt Crisis

2020

J Policy Anal Manage

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ADDRESSING THE STUDENT DEBT CRISISAs outstanding student debt has expanded rapidly-to more than $1.5 trillion in 2019-many observers have concluded that the student loan system is in crisis. Student loans are now the second largest category of household debt in the U.S., exceeded only by home loans. Since the federal government guarantees most of these loans, all American taxpayers have an interest in whether this expanding debt could ultimately place a direct burden on them. Furthermore, high student debt and defaults create a burden for student borrowers, lowering credit scores and making it more difficult to buy a house or achieve financial independence.If the expansion in student debt reflects a crisis in the student loan system, how should that crisis be addressed through policy? In this issue's Point/Counterpoint exchange, Sara Goldrick-Rab of Temple University and Marshall Steinbaum of the University of Utah argue that student debt is a symptom of the economic and administrative obstacles many students face in pursuing education beyond high school, and those obstacles have been amplified by recent reductions in state funding for higher education. The authors propose to reverse this trend in funding and make public higher education tuition-free, drastically reducing the need to rely on student debt to pursue higher education. In addition, they suggest that some outstanding student debt be written off by the government. In contrast, Adam Looney of The Brookings Institution and Constantine Yannelis of the University of Chicago prefer that policymakers focus on repairing the student loan system. They cite evidence that the current student debt crisis was caused by the rapid expansion in schools that offer little economic benefit to their graduates and the explosion in debt associated with these schools. This leads them to conclude that institutional accountability is critical to a stable student loan system. Hence, the government should restrict loan eligibility and loan amounts associated with attending any given school based on the outcomes of their students. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI thank Kevin Kelly of Mathematica for his outstanding help in organizing the Point/ Counterpoint section.

show abstract

The Effects of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on College Enrollment and Completion

Cited by 38 publications

References 12 publications

Does Free Community College Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design

Does Free Community College Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From a Regression Discontinuity Design

What Is the Problem With Student Debt?

Addressing the Student Debt Crisis

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