The Power of "Free" College: Reducing Racial, Socioeconomic, and Geographic Inequalities in Educational Aspirations

• In Event: College Access Issues and Concerns

Abstract

College access is best characterized as an unequal opportunity, with wide gaps by income, race, and place. These gaps begin early in students’ college-going careers with their aspirations to pursue a postsecondary credential. In this study, I evaluate the ability of a collection of college-access policies (place-based “promise” scholarships) to increase aspirations and reduce inequalities. Evidence from difference-in-differences and propensity-score weighted models suggest the introduction of promise programs raise students’ college aspirations by 12-14%, with larger effects for low-income and racial-minority students. This study is the first to test the power of “free college” in shaping educational aspirations, and, in doing so, addresses an existing gap in the literature and provides policymakers with a fuller view of promise-program impacts.

Author

• Taylor Kincaid Odle, University of Wisconsin - Madison