Unpacking the Long-Term Impact of Holistic Supports for Community College Students

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

Abstract

Introduction/Background:

Community colleges have the potential to be powerful vehicles for economic mobility. However, the majority of students who enroll in community colleges do not earn a degree within three years. A growing research literature demonstrates that providing holistic supports focused on the social, academic, financial, and professional needs of students can dramatically improve associate’s degree completion, but for such programs to translate to real gains in degree attainment, they will need to be implemented at a much larger scale. Thus far, however, concerns about the cost of providing holistic supports as well as scant evidence on the long-term effects of these programs on students’ education and employment outcomes has contributed to the limited scale at which holistic support programs have been implemented to date.

Research Question:

The proposed project aims to fill this gap by tracking the long-term effects of one holistic support program: One Million Degrees (OMD). OMD is a non-profit organization serving community college students in the Chicago metro area that supports students financially, academically, socially, and professionally. Results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), conducted by the proposed research team, found that the offer of a spot in the OMD program leads to a statistically significant and substantively meaningful increase in community college enrollment, persistence, and associate’s degree attainment three years after randomization and substantively meaningful and marginally significant impacts on degree attainment OR transfer over the same time frame. Our study will build on these early results by examining the long-term effects of the program on employment status, wages, longer term associate’s degree completion, transfer to four-year colleges, and bachelor's degree attainment.

Methods:

To examine long-term outcomes, we will link data from the original RCT study sample to administrative data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security on employment and wages and to National Student Clearinghouse data on college enrollment and completion outcomes. We will also conduct a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis to understand the cost of the improved outcomes that result from program participation.

Results:

The authors will present findings on associate's degree completion, 4-year enrollment, bachelor's degree attainment, employment status, and wages seven years after randomization.

Conclusion:

This evidence will fill a critical gap in the existing research literature and provide essential information to policy makers and practitioners about the benefits of investing in holistic support programs for community college students relative to other potential investments. With community colleges disproportionately serving students of color and those from low-income households, this evidence has the potential to play an important role in addressing educational and economic inequities in the United States.

Authors

• Kelly Hallberg, University of Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Emileigh Harrison, The University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Co-Author