HOPE for Community College Students: The Impact of Aid on Persistence, Graduation, and Earnings

• In Event: Postsecondary Student Outcomes Investigated Using Quasi-Experimental Research Designs

Abstract

Community colleges play a major role in post-secondary education, yet previous research has emphasized the impact of aid on four-year students rather than two-year students. Furthermore, researchers have focused on the impact of aid on enrollment and outcomes during college, but very few studies have considered the impact of aid on earnings after college. This paper utilizes discontinuities in eligibility criteria for a large merit scholarship to examine the impact of aid on student outcomes both during college and after college. The findings suggest that reducing the cost of community college does not impact persistence, academic performance, degree completion, or short-term earnings after college for the marginal student, and the results are robust to several specifications and bandwidths.

Author

• Jilleah Welch, University of Tennessee Knoxville