TY  - JOUR
AB  - Free community college is often promoted as a way to expand access and reduce student debt, but may have unintended consequences if it reduces bachelor’s degree completion for students diverted from better resourced four-year universities. By examining a meritbased free community college program in Chicago called the Star Scholarship, we identify the impact of free community college on a distinct set of students: those likely to be deciding where to enroll rather than whether to enroll in college. Using a regression discontinuity design around the 3.0 GPA cutoff, we find that eligibility for merit-based free community college does not increase overall college enrollment, but does significantly shift students from starting at 4-year universities to first enrolling at community colleges. Notably, this diversion does not reduce the probability of eventually earning a bachelor’s degree within six years of graduating high school and eligible students are 2.1 percentage points more likely to earn an associate degree within three years. There is no evidence of a large decrease in the quality of the first college a student enrolls in nor do we see a decline in STEM degree completion for eligible students. Take-up is highest among students likely to be from immigrant families, highlighting unmet financial need among this group. These findings suggest that for the average student near the merit threshold, free community college can increase degree attainment without causing students to substitute two-year degrees for four-year degrees.
AU  - Harrison, Emileigh 
AU  - Hallberg, Kelly 
AU  - Ruiz, Elijah 
AU  - Slaughter, Marvin 
PY  - 2026
ST  - The Effect of Merit-Based Free Community College
TI  - The Effect of Merit-Based Free Community College
UR  - http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1426
ER  -