Unpacking the Long-Term Impact of Holistic Supports for Community College Students

This Award will fund a research project that will study the long-term effects of comprehensive support for Community college students from low-income backgrounds. Although Community colleges have the potential to be powerful vehicles for economic mobility, most students who enroll in community colleges do not earn a degree within three years. While research shows that providing holistic support focused on the social, academic, financial, and professional needs of students dramatically improve associate’s degree completion, there is little evidence on the long-term effects of these programs on students’ education and employment outcomes. This research project will combine data from participants in the One Million Degree (OMD) project, a Chicago area project that provides comprehensive support to community college students, with several administrative data set for the study. Outcomes of interest include community college graduation, graduation from four-year college, employment and wages, and contact with the criminal justice system. The researchers will also provide the first comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of such programs. The results of this research project will provide inputs into policies to improve outcomes for community college students. The results will also be helpful to college administrators as well as increase community college graduation, education, increase human capital formation, economic growth, income, and economic mobility. This Award will fund a project to study the the long-term effects of a holistic support program--- One Million Degrees (OMD), a Chicago area organization that provides comprehensive support for community college students. The project builds on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that finds a short-term positive effect of this support. The project will link data from the original RCT study sample to administrative data on employment status, wages, longer term associate’s degree completion, transfer to four-year colleges, and bachelor's degree attainment, to track the long-term outcomes of the participants in the OMD program. In addition, the PIs will conduct a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis to understand the cost of the improved outcomes that result from program participation. This research results will provide essential information to policy makers and practitioners about the benefits of investing in holistic support programs for community college students. In addition to helping to increase human capital formation, the results could also provide inputs into policies to reduce educational and economic inequalities in the United States. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.