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Community college promise programs (for high school students)

Higher Education
  Literature review updated August 2017.

Community college promise programs are place-based scholarship programs. Typically, promise programs provide free tuition for at least one year of community college in a specific region and have minimal academic requirements. Promise programs also have an early outreach component so that students are aware of the program and its requirements early in their high school career. Our analysis reflects the impact of a specific community college promise program, Knox Achieves (later Tennessee Achieves). It is a last dollar program, meaning it covers remaining need after other aid is taken into account and covers up to five continuous semesters of tuition at any Tennessee public community college. It also has a high school mentorship component and a community service requirement.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on 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. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change 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. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
High school graduation
On-time completion of high school with a diploma (excluding GED attainment).
 18 1 2071 0.262 0.055 18 0.262 0.001
Enroll in 4-year college
Enroll in a 4-year higher education institution.
 18 1 2071 -0.209 0.039 18 -0.209 0.001
Enroll in 2-year college
Enroll in a 2-year higher education institution.
 18 1 2071 0.754 0.030 18 0.754 0.001

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Carruthers, C.K., & Fox, W.F. (2015). Aid for all: College coaching, financial aid, and post-secondary persistence in Tennessee. (Working paper #2015-06). Knoxville, TN: Haslam College of Business, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.