Can Light‐Touch College‐Going Interventions Make a Difference? Evidence from a Statewide Experiment in Michigan

Abstract

AbstractI conduct a statewide experiment in Michigan with nearly 50,000 high‐achieving high school seniors. Treated students are mailed a letter encouraging them to consider college and providing them with the web address of a college information website. I find that very high‐achieving, low‐income students, and very high‐achieving, minority students are the most likely to navigate to the website. Small changes to letter content affect take‐up. For example, highlighting college affordability induces 18 percent more students to the website than highlighting college choice, and 37 percent more than highlighting how to apply to college. I find a statistically precise zero impact on college enrollment among all students who were mailed the letter. However, low‐income students experience a small increase in the probability that they enroll in college, driven by increases at four‐year institutions. An examination of persistence through college, while imprecise, suggests that the students induced into college by the intervention persist at a lower rate than the inframarginal student.