New Study Finds “Free College Programs” Have No Effect On Whether Students Go Directly to College
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Research released by the Brookings Institution raises new questions about “free college” programs like RI’s Promise program which now offers up to two years of tuition-free junior college for Rhode Island students.
Governor Gina Raimondo, who championed the program, is advocating for the expansion of the program if she is re-elected. In her second term, "Raimondo will expand Rhode Island Promise by making it available to Rhode Islanders enrolled at our state’s four-year college and university. Any recent Rhode Island high school graduate that qualifies for in-state tuition and enrolls full-time at RIC or URI and maintains good academic standing will be eligible for the scholarship in their last two years of college," said her campaign.
Brookings reports, “In a new study, [Professor] Douglas Harris evaluates a Milwaukee program that promised up to $12,000 in college tuition to qualifying high school students and finds that it had no effect on whether they went directly on to college.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nick Mattiello raised concerns about the program’s success and proposed expansion. He warns that RI already faces a $200 million deficit and the expansion of the program who aggravate the state’s tenuous fiscal condition.
SEE SLIDES BELOW OF CONFIDENTIAL CCRI REPORT
As the national debt for college loans now exceeds $1 trillion, pressure is mounting to control the costs of higher education and to limit debt.
“Place-based “promise scholarships” provide funds to students attending schools in certain cities and states. Others have proposed changes on a national scale, increasing and redesigning financial aid to eliminate student loan debt, called debt-free college, or going even further by eliminating tuition, fees, and/or some share of living expenses—free college,” states the Brookings report.
The lead author of the study is Douglas N. Harris, is a professor of economics and the Schleider Foundation Chair in Public Education at Tulane University, and the principal investigator of the project.
The study was released this week.
Brookings examines one of the first “randomized control trials” of a program which is similar to many free college and promise scholarship proposals.
"The Degree Project was launched in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) in 2011. Students in 18 randomly selected high schools were promised up to $12,000 to pay for college, at essentially any in-state institution. These funds were sufficient to cover all tuition and fees at the local two-year college—making it a form of free or debt-free college. The funds could also be used to attend four-year colleges, covering more than one year of tuition, and fees. To receive the funds, students had to graduate on time from an MPS high school with at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA and a 90 percent class attendance rate, and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)," states the report.
The findings found little impact in many areas. “…it had no effect on the performance measures and no effect on whether students went directly on to college. The most recent evidence does suggest that the scholarship may have slightly increased persistence and graduation in two-year colleges, though not in four-year colleges. We are continuing to track these effects; however, it seems clear at this point that many of the potential benefits, during and just after high school, did not emerge.”
Problems in Rhode Island
In May, GoLocal unveiled that Rhode Island’s program has serious problems in its first year.
GoLocal secured a copy of a confidential Community College of Rhode Island report that states an overwhelming majority of the CCRI students that received free tuition under the state’s new free tuition program — Promise Scholarship — are falling behind and will not graduate on schedule.
The top Community College of Rhode Island official told some CCRI faculty and administration officials that the current requirements for the RI Promise Scholarship program are a "barrier to advancement" — and suggested that lowering the bar for the state's recently enacted free college tuition program for the state's community college could raise success rates.
In a nine-page report presented at the President's Council on March 28 by CCRI Vice President and Chief Outcome Office Sara Enright, the current requirements of a 2.5 GPA and 30 credits a year for the Promise Scholarship, which was championed by Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and approved by the General Assembly last year — are now being called into question as too stringent.
Like Rhode Island’s program, Oregon’s does not have a means test.
And as a result, less than half the students were lower income.
“… in the first year of Oregon's program, fewer than half of all participants qualified for a federal Pell Grant (a common measure of low-income status). The state does have a separate, larger program — the Oregon Opportunity Grant — that is targeted to low-income students, but it has been badly underfunded. In short, when it comes to the promise of free college, Oregon has chosen to pick up the tab for many students who don't need help,” reported National Public Radio last week.
“This question of who should benefit from a free college program has stirred fierce debate. The problem with need-blind access, says Tiffany Jones at The Education Trust, is that it often results in more money going to students who don't need it than to low-income participants,” reports NPR.
Related Slideshow: CCRI Promise Report March 2018
Related Articles
- CCRI Promoting Promise Scholarship Application, Despite Lack of Final Budget Approval
- CCRI Looks at Lowering RI Promise Scholarship Standards—Lower GPA & Fewer Credits
- Guest MINDSETTER™ Arne Duncan, “A Promise Worth Keeping”
- CCRI Pushing for Faculty Buyouts
- Guest MINDSETTER™ Seyler: Critical Spending Requires Critical Thinking at CCRI
- CCRI Leadership Targets “Difficult Faculty”
- CCRI Considers Arming Campus Police, Concerns About “White Supremacy Arising”
- Prospect of Arming Campus Police at CCRI Draws Opposition
- CCRI Awarded $300K Grant to Fund Interactive Learning Center
- CCRI Daycare Center Being Moved Out for Goldman Sachs
- NEW: Hughes Named President of CCRI
- Guest MINDSETTER™ Forleo: CCRI About to Undergo Political Takeover
- Current, Former CCRI Faculty Critical of New Leadership, Direction
- GoLocalTV: Bill Clinton Stumps for Hillary at CCRI on Thursday
- CCRI Baseball Coach Hopkins Announces Retirement
- Raimondo’s CCRI Free Tuition You Need a 2.5 GPA, But Free Diapers Requires a 3.0 GPA
- CCRI Faculty Union Head Raises Nepotism Concerns
- CCRI Faculty Give President Hughes “Failing Grade” on New January Session
- CCRI Office Manager Makes $45K With No College Degree - Asst. Professor, $43K with Master’s
- CCRI President Hughes Criticizes Faculty for Negativity
- The Corporatization of CCRI: Administration Cuts Community Programs
- Over 50 CCRI Faculty Call Hughes’ Leadership “Challenging and Distressing”
- Where is the Courtesy of the Council on Post-Secondary Education? CCRI Guest MINDSETTERS™
- Mattiello and Sasse Say Raimondo’s CCRI Free Tuition End-Around is Illegal
- CCRI Announces 2018 Outstanding Alumni Honorees
