Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232827 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14075
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper analyzes the effects of assignment to a one-year college preparatory program on academic performance in college. To measure the value added from pre-college programs, we use a large dataset of United States Naval Academy students from the 1988 to 2018 graduating classes, of which a little over 22% received post-high school remediation. Given the Academy's unique admissions criteria that members of each incoming class originate from an even distribution of congressional districts, we instrument for pre-college treatment using the number and quality of other applicants originating from the same district. After incorporating these instruments as well as a wide range of outcome measures and background characteristics, we find that preparatory programs have positive but limited effects for human capital development for undergraduate students. Specifically, these pre-college programs promote significant but short-lived improvements in academic grades. They also can encourage students to choose STEM-oriented majors, and promote retention by lowering voluntary exits.
Subjects: 
human capital
remedial education
higher education
liberal arts college
JEL: 
I20
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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