Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Text message reminders (for college students)
Higher Education
Literature review updated December 2016.

Text message reminders provide college students with a range of information about available student services and financial aid. In the studies included in this meta-analysis, college students were encouraged to re-file for financial aid or were advised of available tutoring and advising resources available on campus. Students were sent 12 to 40 text messages during the first year of college.

META-ANALYSIS	CITATIONS

**Meta-analysis** is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic in order to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The **outcomes** measured are the types of program impacts that were measured in the research literature (for example, crime or educational attainment). **Treatment N** represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An **effect size** (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases.

**Adjusted effect sizes** are used to calculate the benefits from our benefit cost model. WSIPP may adjust effect sizes based on methodological characteristics of the study. For example, we may adjust effect sizes when a study has a weak research design or when the program developer is involved in the research. The magnitude of these adjustments varies depending on the topic area.

WSIPP may also adjust the second ES measurement. Research shows the magnitude of some effect sizes decrease over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments which we apply between the **first time ES is estimated** and the **second time ES is estimated**. We also report the **unadjusted effect size** to show the effect sizes before any adjustments have been made. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.
Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured	Primary or secondary participant	No. of effect sizes	Treatment N	Adjusted effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) used in the benefit-cost analysis						Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
				First time ES is estimated			Second time ES is estimated			Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
				ES	SE	Age	ES	SE	Age	ES	p-value
College grade point average	Primary	1	407	0.029	0.095	19	0.029	0.095	19	0.029	0.761
Persistence into 2nd year	Primary	2	413	0.070	0.250	20	0.070	0.250	20	0.070	0.780

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Castleman, B.L., & Meyer, K. (2016). Can text message nudges improve academic outcomes in college? Evidence from a West Virginia initiative. Charlottesville, VA: EdPolicyWorks.

Castleman, B.L., & Page, L.C. (2016). Freshman year financial aid nudges: An experiment to increase FAFSA renewal and college persistence. Journal of Human Resources, 51(2), 389-415.