Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/246064 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 21-350
Publisher: 
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI
Abstract: 
We estimate the effects on workforce and location outcomes of the Kalamazoo Promise, a generous, place-based college scholarship. Drawing upon administrative unemployment insurance wage records merged with individual-level education data, we identify Promise effects by comparing eligible to ineligible graduates before and after the Promise's initiation. We supplement this quantitative analysis with surveys and interviews. Despite earlier research showing that the Kalamazoo Promise substantially increased degree attainment, we find little evidence that the program affected average earnings within 10 years of high school graduation. However, the Kalamazoo Promise may have increased the likelihood of eligible graduates having earnings, within Michigan, in the middle of the distribution. We discuss the possible role of job availability in understanding these patterns and the implications for free-tuition college programs as a workforce development tool.
Subjects: 
place-based scholarship
difference-in-differences
mixed methods
workforce outcomes
earnings
migration
education policy
JEL: 
I21
I22
I24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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