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Free tuition and college enrollment: evidence from New York’s Excelsior program

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  • Hieu Nguyen

Abstract

Since the fall of 2017, New York has offered free tuition to eligible residents attending its state-funded two-year and four-year colleges under its unique Excelsior Scholarship program. We use the difference-in-differences and generalized synthetic control estimators to document that institution-level enrollment effects are negligible. Our study provides the first evidence of enrollment responses to a state-wide promise program within the four-year sector and adds new results to the fast-growing free-college literature. We propose competing channels to rationalize the obtained findings and compare Excelsior with other prominent initiatives to shed light on both design and implementation.

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  • Hieu Nguyen, 2019. "Free tuition and college enrollment: evidence from New York’s Excelsior program," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 573-587, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:27:y:2019:i:6:p:573-587
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2019.1652727
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    7. Page, Lindsay C. & Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2016. "Improving college access in the United States: Barriers and policy responses," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 4-22.
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin Fields & Steven Brint, 2023. "The Disruption in U.S. Public Higher Education Enrollments, 2009–2019: Sources of Inter-State Variation by Tier," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(2), pages 256-285, February.
    2. Mikola, Derek & Webb, Matthew D., 2023. "Finish it and it is free: An evaluation of college graduation subsidies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Roy Y. Chan, 2022. "Do Credit Momentum Policies Through the 15 to Finish Improve Academic Progression and Completion of Low-Income, First-Generation Students? Evidence from a College Promise Program," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(8), pages 1394-1426, December.
    4. Espinoza, Oscar & Corradi, Bruno & González, Luis & Sandoval, Luis & McGinn, Noel & Maldonado, Karina & Larrondo, Yahira, 2023. "The effects of free tuition on the persistence of university students in Chile," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

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