N.C. Promise Tuition Plan
Project Background
The North Carolina Promise Tuition Plan (NC Promise) was implemented in the Fall of 2018 to reduce student tuition to $500 per semester for in-state students and $2,500 per semester for in-state and out-of-state students , respectively, at three University of North Carolina Systems schools: Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University. The hope was that the program would “increase educational access, reduce student debt, and grow the state’s economy.” by attracting more students to these schools and by lowering the overall cost of attendance. Initial evidence suggests that the three NC Promise campuses saw increases in enrollment ranging from roughly 7 to 19 percent after the program went into effect. These increases speak to the power of the program, and college cost, to affect students’ college choices. However, it is not clear yet whether these increases in enrollment at these campuses actually worked to increased overall access to higher education and whether there were any , or whether there were unintended consequences that might undercut the benefits of the initial enrollment increases. within the clear student response to the reduced tuition plan.
Aims/Goals
In this work we investigate both the intended and unintended consequences of NC promise by using data from the University of North Carolina System to determine (1) how the demographic composition of the NC Promise campuses changed as a result of the policy, with particular attention to how patterns of application, admission, and enrollment changed for student subgroups; (2) whether the incentive of tuition discounts at NC Promise universities led students to enroll in more or less selective colleges than they otherwise might have, either drawing high achieving students from the more elite UNC System campuses, or drawing students into four-year college enrollment who might otherwise have enrolled at community colleges; and (3) whether students who enroll in NC Promise institutions successfully persist toward graduation and accumulate less debt than they otherwise would have.
Potential Outcomes/Impact
Understanding these responses to the implementation of NC Promise is important to North Carolina policy makers, stakeholders in the program’s success, and higher education policy makers nationally who may look to NC Promise as a model for increasing college access elsewhere. The work is particularly important because efforts like NC Promise have the potential to draw students into the UNC System who might not otherwise have felt like they could afford or access a college education. If NC Promise is successful in engaging these new students, it could be an important tool as the state moves towards the college completion goals of myFutureNC[link].
People
- Daniel Klasik
- Will Zahran
- Rachel Worsham
- Matt Springer