Start to Finish: Examining the Impact of the El Dorado Promise Program on Postsecondary Outcomes

Abstract

The El Dorado Promise program is a universal, first dollar Promise program that guarantees a full tuition scholarship to students who attend the El Dorado School District from grades K-12, and a partial scholarship for those enrolled for at least 9th through 12th grade. We use a difference-in-differences framework to examine the impact of the El Dorado Promise program on college enrollment and bachelor’s degree completion. We find that, overall, the Promise was associated with a 14.0 percentage point increase in postsecondary enrollment, no change in associate’s degree completion, and an 8.8 percentage point increase in bachelor’s degree completion. Students of color and students with below-average GPAs saw the greatest increases in enrollment. Students with above-average GPAs realized the largest gains in bachelor’s degree completion. These results indicate that Promise programs in rural areas can have positive and significant impacts on postsecondary outcomes.