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ERIC Number: ED671455
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Oct
Pages: 61
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Effect of Course Shutouts on Community College Students: Evidence from Waitlist Cutoffs. EdWorkingPaper No. 20-314
Silvia Robles; Max Gross; Robert W. Fairlie
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
One frequently cited yet understudied channel through which money matters for college students is course availability--colleges may respond to budgetary pressure by reducing course offerings. Open admissions policies, binding class size constraints, and heavy reliance on state funding may make this channel especially salient at community colleges, which enroll 47% of U.S. undergraduates in public colleges and 55% of underrepresented minority students. We use administrative course registration data from a large community college in California to test this mechanism. By exploiting discontinuities in course admissions created by waitlists, we find that students stuck on a waitlist and shut out of a course section were 25% more likely to take zero courses that term relative to a baseline of 10%. Shutouts also increased transfer rates to nearby, but potentially lower quality, two-year colleges. These results document that course availability- even through a relatively small friction--can interrupt and distort community college students' educational trajectories.
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Location: California
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305B150012
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: N/A