Project Activities
Effects of community college tuition subsidies on college access and attainment will be analyzed using data from the Texas Schools Microdata Panel, the U.S. Decennial Census, and newly collected data for a subset of school districts whose catchment areas significantly overlap college taxing district boundaries. The Texas Schools Microdata Panel allows for tracking students from K-12 schools through college and into the labor market. Identification of a group of similar students who live outside of college-district boundaries, and who therefore pay higher tuition, provides a comparison condition.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place using data from 67 public community colleges within 50 college taxing districts throughout the state of Texas.
Sample
Participants include over 2 million students who graduated from Texas high schools between 1991 and 2002.
Intervention
This project will examine the availability of tuition subsidies for local community colleges in relation to community college taxing district residency requirements. A comparison condition will be constructed by identifying non-residents who live on opposite, adjacent sides of college-district boundaries and therefore face greater community college costs.
Research design and methods
This project uses a "natural experiment" using the sharp spatial variation in tuition costs associated with community college taxing district residency to isolate the impact of subsidies on student outcomes. The study will use instrumental variables and regression discontinuity methods to examine how tuition subsidies for community colleges influence student outcomes. Researchers will conduct extensive analyses to determine whether there are biases resulting from individuals sorting into regions based on preferences for community colleges. Also, because community colleges are sometimes perceived as maintaining lower "college quality," the potential for perverse effects of lowering overall education attainment is investigated. Given the large sample and existing evidence showing that college-district residency exerts meaningful, precisely-estimated impacts on academic outcomes in college, college-district residency will be used as an instrumental variable to isolate the effect of attending community college on labor market success.
Control condition
There is no control condition.
Key measures
Outcomes include enrollment in a two-year and/or four-year college, retention, accumulated credits, receipt of academic and vocational degrees, and earnings after leaving school.
Data analytic strategy
Standard parametric and non-parametric methods will be used in the regression discontinuity analyses. Two stage least squares with instrumental variables will be used to conduct the data analysis.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Products include published reports on the long-term effects of community college tuition subsidies on college access and success. Reports will also include results on how receiving education from community colleges may affect individual long-run labor market performance.
Supplemental information
Researchers will also use two other research designs to examine the effect of college taxing district subsidies. The second research design uses a subsample of school districts where exact residential location and school catchment areas include areas inside and outside of taxing districts. This will enable a regression discontinuity analysis that compares students on either side of the taxing district boundary. Researchers will also exploit changes in taxing district boundaries over time to identify the effects of receiving subsidized tuition.
The project also includes collection of detailed geographic measures of taxing district boundaries, information on tuition rates, and exact residential location for a subsample of districts.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
