TY  - JOUR
AB  - Four-year public colleges may play an important role in supporting intergenerational mobility by providing an accessible path to a bachelor’s degree and increasing students' earnings. Leveraging a midsize state’s GPA- and SAT-based admissions thresholds for the four-year public sector, I use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of four-year public college admissions on earnings and college costs. For low-income students and Black, Hispanic, or Native American students, admission to four-year public colleges increases mean annual earnings by almost $8,000 eight to fourteen years after applying without increasing the private costs of college. The state recovers the cost of an additional four-year public college admission through increased lifetime tax revenue. Expanding access to four-year public colleges may be a particularly effective way to improve the economic outcomes of low-income students and Black, Hispanic, or Native American students.
AU  - Kozakowski, Whitney 
PY  - 2023
ST  - Are Four-Year Public Colleges Engines for Economic Mobility? Evidence from Statewide Admissions Thresholds
TI  - Are Four-Year Public Colleges Engines for Economic Mobility? Evidence from Statewide Admissions Thresholds
UR  - http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai23-727
ER  -