Last week, Susan Dynarski, Ford School professor, and her fellow researchers released a new research study titled “Closing the Gap: The Effect of a Targeted, Tuition-Free Promise on College Choices of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students.” Since then, many media outlets have taken notice of the success of the low-cost intervention to encourage disadvantaged students to apply and enroll at the University of Michigan.
The coverage includes:
Washington Post A 50-cent trick to help save the American Dream
The Chronicle of Higher Education How U. of Michigan Appealed to Low-Income Students with a Colorful Innovation—and a Promise of Aid
New York Intelligencer A New Study Illustrates One Easy Way to Increase Diversity on College Campuses
MLive UM’s free tuition approach to recruiting low-income students works, study finds
The Atlantic A Guarantee of Tuition-Free College Can Have Life-Changing Effects
New York Times A College Experiment That Really Worked
Mother Jones Researchers Found a Cheap, Surprisingly Effective Way to Get More Low-Income Students Into College
All about Ann Arbor U-M study finds tuition-free promise to high-achieving, low-income students increases recruitment
Marketwatch Here’s a simple strategy for enrolling more low-income students at elite colleges, but why it is so effective?
NPR Hail to college access
Read more about the research and its effectiveness.
Susan Dynarski is a professor of public policy, education and economics at the University of Michigan, where she holds appointments at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, School of Education, Department of Economics and Institute for Social Research and serves as co-director of the Education Policy Initiative.