Dive Brief:
- A working paper by economists at Temple University and the University of Illinois at Chicago examines data from 13 public universities in Ohio and mid-career earnings to find out how much a bachelor’s degree impacts low-performing students.
- The researchers used GPA-cutoff dismissal policies to create a control group, as students who fall just below the threshold are very similar to students who are on the other side, only they are asked to leave — though these students are free to reapply for admission.
- While the study does not provide any conclusions about the impact of dismissal policies, it does find evidence of strong, positive benefits of persisting in college for low-performing students, despite arguments that they may be better off leaving college and finding work instead.
Dive Insight:
The push to expand college access has been opposed by groups who think that some students simply should not go to college. These students struggled through high school, and some expect they don’t have the intellectual capacity to succeed in college, advocating instead some type of apprenticeship or job training that sets them up for steady work.
This latest research, however, indicates that even among low-performing students, the long-term financial benefits of getting a bachelor’s degree are compelling. The focus on GPA-cutoff dismissal policies allowed the researchers to look at similar groups of students. They found that relatively few dismissed students reapplied for admission, however, and they were 10% less likely to graduate college than their peers.