College Summer School: Educational Benefits and Enrollment Preferences

49 Pages Posted: 1 Jul 2020 Last revised: 6 Jun 2023

See all articles by Andy Brownback

Andy Brownback

University of Arkansas

Sally Sadoff

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management

Date Written: June 1, 2023

Abstract

We experimentally examine whether a policy targeting college summer school enrollment can accelerate degree progress and completion. We randomly assign summer scholarships to community college students and find a large impact on degree acceleration, increasing graduation within one year of the intervention by 32% and transfers to four-year colleges by 58%. We elicit preferences for the scholarships and find substantial treatment effects on enrollment, graduation,
and transfer among students with a preference against summer school. These results suggest that many more students could benefit from summer school than the minority who currently enroll.

Keywords: summer school, free tuition, field experiment, community college

JEL Classification: I23, C93

Suggested Citation

Brownback, Andy and Sadoff, Sally, College Summer School: Educational Benefits and Enrollment Preferences (June 1, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3622279 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3622279

Andy Brownback

University of Arkansas ( email )

Fayetteville, AR 72701
United States

Sally Sadoff (Contact Author)

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
Rady School of Management
La Jolla, CA 92093
United States

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