Grant Recipient: MDRC
Principal Investigators:
Colleen Sommo, MDRC
Cynthia Miller, MDRC
Term: 2020 — 2028
Funding: $549,808
Summary: Under this project, MDRC will extend the follow-up of the existing replication RCT of ASAP (funded in-part by AV) at three community colleges in Ohio. ASAP is a comprehensive program for low-income community college students that has demonstrated large, replicated effects on degree completion in two well-conducted RCTs – the aforementioned replication RCT in Ohio and one at the City University of New York (CUNY). In Ohio, ASAP led to a significant 16 percentage point increase in college graduation at three-year follow-up. Based on these studies, ASAP has the strongest evidence of sizable, sustained educational impacts of any existing postsecondary intervention.
It is not yet known, however, whether these large effects on degree completion will lead to long-term gains in workforce earnings for this low-income population. Additionally, the study seeks to confirm whether the long-term (i.e. eight-year) impacts on degree completion at CUNY can be reproduced in Ohio through longer-term follow-up of the Ohio study. This study will examine two primary outcomes: (i) degree completion through eight-year follow-up, and (ii) earnings through ten-year follow-up. Degree completion will be measured with National Student Clearinghouse data, and workforce earnings with state unemployment insurance (UI) records from Ohio and neighboring states (e.g., Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia).
The study’s pre-specified analysis plan is linked here.
