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Graduate education is among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. higher educational system. This paper estimates the returns to Master's degrees and examines heterogeneity in the returns by field area, student demographics and initial labor market conditions. We use rich administrative data from Ohio and an individual fixed effects model that compares students' earnings trajectories before and after earning a Master's degree. Findings show that obtaining a Master's degree increased quarterly earnings by about 14% on average, but the returns vary largely across graduate fields. We also find gender and racial disparities in the returns, with higher average returns for women than for men, and for White than for Black graduates. In addition, by comparing returns among students who graduated before and under the Great Recession, we show that economic downturns appear to reduce but not eliminate the positive returns to Master's degrees. There are important variations in the returns to Master's degrees during the recession across field area and race/ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing financial pressures on higher education systems throughout the world, many governments remain resolutely opposed to the introduction of tuition fees, and some countries and states where tuition fees have been long established are now reconsidering free higher education. This paper examines the consequences of charging tuition fees on university enrolments, equity, and proxies for institutional quality. To do so, we study the English higher education system which has, in just two decades, moved from a free college system to one in which tuition fees are among the highest in the world. Our findings suggest that England's shift has resulted in increased funding per head and rising enrolments, with no apparent widening of the participation gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. The role of fees is moderated by other key features of higher education finance which may differ across countries: in contrast to other systems with high tuition fees, the English system is distinct in that its income-contingent loan system ensures that no tuition fees are paid upfront, and provides students with comparatively generous assistance for living expenses. Still, the English experience provides an instructive case for other countries considering implementing or abolishing tuition fees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the nation's largest need-based grant program. While students' initial eligibility for the Pell is based on financial need, renewal is contingent on meeting minimum academic standards similar to those in models of performance-based scholarships, including a grade point average (GPA) requirement and ratio of credits completed compared to those attempted. In this study, we describe federal satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements and illustrate the policy's implementation in a statewide community college system. Using state administrative data, we demonstrate that a substantial portion of Pell recipients are at risk for Pell ineligibility due to their failure to meet SAP GPA or credit completion requirements. We then leverage the GPA component of the policy to explore the impacts of failure to meet standards on early college persistence and achievement, earning a credential, and transferring to a 4-year college using two methodological approaches: regression discontinuity (RD) and difference-in-differences (DD). Our results across the two approaches are mixed, with the RD providing null estimates and the DD indicating statistically significant impacts, including a negative effect on early college persistence. We conclude by discussing the implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student employment subsidies are one of the largest types of federal employment subsidies, yet little is known about their impact. We provide a framework highlighting the likelihood of heterogeneity in program effects, depending upon whether recipients are marginal or inframarginal workers. We then utilize a matching approach to estimate the effects of the Federal Work-Study program, leveraging the fact that FWS funding varies across institutions for idiosyncratic reasons. Our results suggest that about half of FWS participants would have worked even in the absence of the subsidy; for these students, FWS reduces hours worked and improves academic outcomes, but has little impact on early post-college employment. For students who would not have worked otherwise, the pattern of effects reverses. Overall, the positive effects are strongest for subgroups who are the least likely to have access to the program, suggesting there may be gains to improved targeting of funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioeconomic gaps in college enrollment and attainment have widened over time, despite increasing returns to postsecondary education and significant policy efforts to improve access. We describe the barriers that students face during the transition to college and review the evidence on potential policy solutions. We focus primarily on research that examines causal relationships using experimental or quasi-experimental methods, though we draw upon descriptive evidence to provide context. Our review is distinctive in three respects. First, in addition to the literature on financial aid, we examine the evidence on informational and behavioral interventions, academic programs, and affirmative action policies intended to improve college access. Second, we incorporate a wealth of recent research not included in prior reviews. Finally, we conceptualize college access broadly, as including not just whether but also where students attend and whether they have access to college-level courses. We conclude with a discussion of implications for policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the nearly fifty years since the adoption of the Higher Education Act of 1965, financial aid programs have grown in scale, expanded in scope, and multiplied in form. As a result, financial aid has become the norm among college enrollees. Aid now flows not only to traditional college students but also to part-time students, older students, and students who never graduated from high school. Today aid is available not only to low-income students but also to middle- and even high-income families, in the form of grants, subsidized loans, and tax credits. The increasing size and complexity of the nation’s student aid system has generated questions about effectiveness, heightened confusion among students and parents, and raised concerns about how program rules may interact. In this article, Susan Dynarski and Judith Scott-Clayton review what is known, and just as important, what is not known, about how well various student aid programs work. The evidence, the authors write, clearly shows that lowering costs can improve college access and completion. But this general rule is not without exception. First, they note, the complexity of program eligibility and delivery appears to moderate the impact of aid on college enrollment and persistence after enrollment. Second, for students who have already decided to enroll, grants that tie financial aid to academic achievement appear to boost college outcomes such as persistence more than do grants with no strings attached. Third, compared with grant aid, relatively little rigorous research has been conducted on the effectiveness of student loans. The paucity of evidence on student loans is particularly problematic both because they represent a large share of student aid overall and because their low cost (relative to grant aid) makes them an attractive option for policy makers. Future research is likely to focus on several issues: the importance of program design and delivery, whether there are unanticipated interactions between programs, and to what extent program effects vary across different types of students. The results of this evidence will be critical, the authors say, as politicians look for ways to control spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many students entering community colleges, the first stop on campus is to an assessment center. More than half of these students will be placed into developmental education as a result of their scores on reading, writing, and mathematics entry assessments, yet there is little evidence that this improves student outcomes. We examine alternative perspectives on the role of assessment and how it is best implemented, review the validity of the most common assessments, and discuss emerging directions in assessment policy and practice. We conclude with implications for policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Displaced workers suffer large and persistent earnings losses. These losses can be mitigated by returning to school, yet the extent to which such workers enroll in post-secondary education in response to displacement is poorly understood. Using employer-employee-student matched administrative data from Ohio, we provide the first direct evidence of workers' enrollment responses following mass layoffs in the United States. We estimate that for every 100 displaced workers, only 1 is ever induced to enroll in a public college. This effect is concentrated almost entirely among displaced manufacturing workers, who enroll at a rate of 2.5 per 100. Workers with relatively low earnings at their layoff firms are the most likely to enroll in public institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) and others was criticized in an article by Alexandros M. Goudas and Hunter R. Boylan (2012) published in the Journal of Developmental Education, Volume 36, Issue 1. They raise specific contentions related to the methodology applied in the CCRC studies, the review of related literature, and stated findings. Their article claims that we and others have overgeneralized, misinterpreted, and misapplied the data and research to advance a reform agenda that involves replacing prerequisite with corequisite developmental education. In this commentary we show that their key claims do not stand up to scrutiny. Moreover, we point out that, although we think research so far suggests that corequisite models have potential as part of a comprehensive reform of developmental education, we have never called for the elimination of prerequisite remediation. We conclude with some general suggestions--based on our research findings--for strengthening the services that community colleges provide to students with weak academic skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]