Some high school seniors who plan to attend college in the fall following graduation do not enroll. This phenomenon, known as summer melt, contributes to lower educational attainment, particularly among low-income students. We extend the literature on summer melt in two ways. First, we show that melt estimates can be sensitive to measurement…

Validity studies of college admissions tests have found that, on average, students who are Black or Hispanic earn lower freshman grade-point averages (FGPAs) than predicted by these test scores. This differential prediction is used as a measure of bias. These studies, however, conflate student and school characteristics. The differential…