A new study from MDRC evaluates the impact, over three years, of a support program for low-income community college students in New York who are taking remedial courses. Developed by the City University of New York, the program is called the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (or ASAP) and includes several components. Among these is a requirement to enroll full-time and participate in tutoring; comprehensive and dedicated student advising; a non-credit seminar that covers academic planning and goal setting; and career and employment services. Participants enjoy tuition waivers, free transportation vouchers, and free textbooks. Eligible students had to meet income eligibility requirements and take one to two remedial courses, among other conditions.
Three of CUNY’s largest community colleges participated, and roughly nine hundred students were randomly assigned either to a control group that received the usual college services or the treatment group, which had the opportunity to participate in ASAP (a study design that actually met the What Works Clearinghouse design standards without reservations).
Now for the results: ASAP students earned, on average, nine more credits than the control group. Moreover, the program nearly doubled the graduation rate, with 40 percent of the ASAP group receiving a degree compared to 22 percent of the control group. Participants were also more likely to transfer to a four-year college (25 percent versus 17 percent). As for the expense, the analysts estimate that ASAP costs roughly $16,000 more per student than CUNY spends on usual college services. Yet the cost per degree was lower because ASAP generated so many more graduates over three years than did the usual college services.
We’re beginning to build a literature around what it takes to help bolster success for non-college-ready students, and it typically involves intensive resources, including lots of one-on-one time with adults shepherding them around various academic and social obstacles. That’s all well and good. But keep in mind that, though the ASAP program doubled graduation rates, a full 60 percent of students with amazing amounts of help at their disposal still did not attain a degree in three years. If we want to boost completion rates, there’s no substitute for improving college readiness rates.
SOURCE: Susan Scrivener et al., "Doubling graduation rates: Three-year effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for developmental education students," MDRC (February 2015).
