Extending the Promise: Student Outcomes and Experiences in Evolving Supplemental College Promise Programs

• In Event: Scaling and Adapting for Student Success: Findings from Three States Implementing a Proven Postsecondary Model

Abstract

Postsecondary educational attainment is strongly and positively correlated with employment and earnings gains and economic self-sufficiency, yet insufficient numbers of young adults complete college degrees and acquire the skills needed to succeed in the labor market, meet employer demand, and realize their career goals. Community colleges serve a key role in increasing college access, accounting for more than 40 percent of enrolled undergraduates, yet their completion rates lag far behind four-year universities. Some community college students face challenging life circumstances, such as caring for dependents or working full-time jobs, and policies like tuition discounts and promise programs often come up short in buoying their success. 

In addition, financial aid and place-based “promise” programs that provide tuition-free access to community colleges are often designed with traditional-aged students in mind, rather than for working adult students who typically face heightened responsibilities associated with their jobs and caretaking and may need to attend college part-time. Research also shows that promise programs designed as last-dollar programs are less likely to benefit low-income students. It is in this context that we examine supplemental support programs that are evolving to more effectively serve both full- and part-time community college students in achieving their postsecondary education goals. The two supplemental support programs that we study—Nashville GRAD and Nashville Flex—were designed in the model of the successful, evidence-based Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) at City University of New York (CUNY) to provide intensive academic advising and wraparound financial and social supports to full-time (GRAD) and part-time (Flex) students at Nashville State Community College (NSCC). 

We employ a mixed methods approach to examine: (1) the extent to which GRAD and Flex participation are associated with NSCC students’ college persistence and academic performance, college transfer and completion, and wages after enrolled in college, and (2) how student characteristics and external obligations such as work and caretaking responsibilities affect their full-time vs. part-time enrollment status, participation in the GRAD and Flex programs, and college experience. In the quantitative analyses, we estimate quasi-experimental, fixed-effects models of student outcomes, drawing on panel administrative data from NSCC—including information on demographics, program participation, and outcomes while enrolled in college—which we have linked to the Tennessee Longitudinal Data System on students’ higher education transitions and employment and earnings over time. The qualitative analysis that explores Nashville GRAD and Flex participants’ experiences in college and with the programs draws on data collected in semi-structured interviews with 61 students. We find strong associations between supplemental program participation and students’ credits earned, college persistence, academic performance, full-time status, wages, and college transfer and completion. Our qualitative analysis illuminates the mechanisms by which the supplemental programs aid students in balancing external obligations and advancing toward completion.

Author

• Mary Madison Smith, Washington University in St. Louis
  Presenting Author