The Short-Term Effects of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on Student Outcomes

Authors

Timothy J. Bartik, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow
Marta Lachowska, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Stockholm UniversityFollow

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6238-8181

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9158-2592

Publication Date

8-29-2012

Series

Upjohn Institute working paper ; 12-186

**Published Version**

In New Analyses of Worker Well-Being Research in Labor Economics 38: 37-76

DOI

10.17848/wp12-186

Abstract

In order to study whether college scholarships can be an effective tool in raising students’ performance in secondary school, we use one aspect of the Kalamazoo Promise that resembles a quasi-experiment. The surprise announcement of the scholarship created a large change in expected college tuition costs that varied across different groups of students based on past enrollment decisions. This variation is arguably exogenous to unobserved student characteristics. We estimate the effects of this change by a set of “difference-in-differences” regressions where we compare the change in student outcomes in secondary school across time for different student “length of enrollment” groups. We find positive effects of the Kalamazoo Promise on Promise-eligible students large enough to be deemed important—about a 9 percent increase in the probability of earning any credits and one less suspension day per year. We also find large increases in GPA among African American students.

Issue Date

August 29, 2012

Subject Areas

EDUCATION; K-12 Education; Postsecondary education; Postsecondary access; Promise scholarships