The Effect of Course Shutouts on Community College Students: Evidence from Waitlist Cutoffs

61 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2019 Last revised: 26 Jan 2023

See all articles by Silvia Robles

Silvia Robles

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Max Gross

Department of Economics, University of Michigan

Robert W. Fairlie

UCLA; National Bureau of Economic Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: October 2019

Abstract

One frequently cited yet understudied channel through which funding levels impact college students is course availability—colleges are often forced to respond to budgetary pressure by reducing course offerings. We provide the first causal evidence on this mechanism at a community college, using administrative course registration data and a novel research design that exploits discontinuities in course admissions created by waitlists. Community colleges enroll about half of U.S. undergraduates and over half of minority students in public colleges. The impacts of course availability in this setting may be especially salient relative to four-year colleges due to open admissions policies, binding class size constraints, and a heavy reliance on state funding. Across a range of bandwidths, we find that students stuck on a waitlist and shut out of a course section were 22 to 28 percent more likely to take zero courses that term relative to a baseline of about 10 percent. Shutouts also increased transfer rates to nearby, but potentially less-desirable two-year colleges. These results offer some evidence that course availability can disrupt community college students' educational trajectories.

Suggested Citation

Robles, Silvia and Gross, Max and Fairlie, Robert W., The Effect of Course Shutouts on Community College Students: Evidence from Waitlist Cutoffs (October 2019). NBER Working Paper No. w26376, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3472811

Silvia Robles (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy ( email )

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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Max Gross

Department of Economics, University of Michigan ( email )

Lorch Hall
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HOME PAGE: http://max-gross.github.io

Robert W. Fairlie

UCLA ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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HOME PAGE: http://www.nber.org/people/robert_fairlie?page=1&perPage=50

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