Stay late or start early? Experimental evidence on the benefits of college matriculation support from high schools versus colleges

B-Tier
Journal: Economics of Education Review
Year: 2015
Volume: 47
Issue: C
Pages: 168-179

Authors (3)

Castleman, Benjamin L. (University of Virginia) Owen, Laura (not in RePEc) Page, Lindsay C. (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The summer melt and academic mismatch literatures have focused largely on college-ready, low-income students. Yet, a broader population of students may also benefit from additional support in formulating and realizing their college plans. We investigate the impact of a unique high school-university partnership to support college-intending students to follow through on their college plans. Specifically, we facilitated a collaborative effort between the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) and the University of New Mexico (UNM), and randomly assigned 1602 APS graduates admitted to UNM across three experimental conditions: (1) outreach from an APS-based counselor; (2) outreach from a UNM-based counselor; or (3) the control group. Among Hispanic males, who are underrepresented at UNM compared to their APS graduating class, summer outreach improved timely postsecondary matriculation, with suggestive evidence that college-based outreach may be particularly effective. This finding is consistent with the social-psychological literature showing that increasing students’ sense of belonging at college can improve enrollment outcomes.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecoedu:v:47:y:2015:i:c:p:168-179
Journal Field
Education
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25