Washington State Institute for Public Policy

Early commitment programs (for middle and high school students)
Higher Education
Literature review updated December 2016.

Early commitment programs offer assured college financial assistance early in students’ academic careers, conditional on meeting certain program requirements. We focus on programs where students were assured assistance by the tenth grade, and the program requirements were low enough that students would be reasonably certain that they would be able to receive aid. We distinguish these programs from merit programs by excluding programs with a test score requirement and/or a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 or higher. The programs included in the meta-analysis cover up to 100% of college tuition and fees at eligible colleges and universities for four years, conditional on meeting initial scholarship requirements and continued satisfactory academic performance in college. One program included in the meta-analysis also provided academic (tutoring/counseling) and college application support in high school.

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
Enroll in 2-year college	Primary	2	12841	0.025	0.020	18	0.025	0.020	18	0.025	0.208
Enroll in 4-year college	Primary	3	16386	0.200	0.107	18	0.200	0.107	18	0.200	0.062
Graduate with 2-year degree	Primary	1	855	0.056	0.130	22	0.056	0.130	22	0.056	0.669
Graduate with 4-year degree	Primary	2	2764	0.149	0.126	23	0.149	0.126	23	0.149	0.236
Persistence into 4th year	Primary	1	855	-0.114	0.056	22	-0.114	0.056	22	-0.114	0.043

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Bartik, T.J., Hershbein, B., & Lachowska, M. (2015). The effects of the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship on college enrollment, persistence, and completion. Upjohn Institute Working Paper 15-229. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Bozick, R., Gonzalez, G., & Engberg, J. (2015). Using a merit-based scholarship program to increase rates of college enrollment in an urban school district: The case of the Pittsburgh Promise. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 45(2), 2-24.

St. John, E.P., Gross, J.P.K., Musoba, G.D., & Chung, A.S. (2005). A step toward college success: Assessing attainment among Indiana's Twenty-First Century Scholars. Indianapolis, IN: Lumina Foundation for Education.

Toutkoushian, R.K., Hossler, D., Desjardins, S.L., McCall, B.P., & Canche, M.G. (2015). The effect of participating in Indiana’s Twenty-First Century Scholars program on college enrollments. Review of Higher Education, 39(1), 59-95.