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Experimental Evidence of the Impact of Re-Enrollment Campaigns on Long-Term Academic Outcomes

Justin C. Ortagus (), Hope Allchin (), Benjamin Skinner (), Melvin Tanner () and Isaac McFarlin ()
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Justin C. Ortagus: Higher Education Administration & Policy University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611
Hope Allchin: Higher Education Administration & Policy University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611
Benjamin Skinner: Institute of Higher Education University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611
Melvin Tanner: University of Missouri-Kansas City, Institute of Higher Education University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611
Isaac McFarlin: Institute of Higher Education University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611, National Bureau of Economic Research

Education Finance and Policy, 2025, vol. 20, issue 3, 494-515

Abstract: Most students who begin at a community college do not complete their desired credential. Many students fail to graduate due to various barriers other than their academic performance. To encourage previously successful non-completers to re-enroll and eventually graduate, a growing number of community colleges have implemented re-enrollment campaigns focused on former students who have already made substantial progress toward graduation. In this study, we randomly assigned over 27,000 former community college students to a control group, “information-only” treatment group, or “information and one-course waiver” treatment group to examine whether re-enrollment campaigns can improve their likelihood of long-term persistence and credential completion. Although we showed in earlier work that the “information and one-course waiver” treatment had a positive impact on former students’ likelihood of re-enrollment, our findings reveal the re-enrollment intervention has no effect on students’ likelihood of long-term persistence or credential completion for the pooled sample or any subgroup of interest, including low-income students, racially minoritized students, or adult students. Simply put, this particular re-enrollment intervention including one-time, one-course tuition waivers increased former students’ likelihood of re-enrollment but was not an effective lever to increase long-term academic outcomes among previously successful community college students who departed without earning a credential.

Date: 2025
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