Empathy is recognized as the ability to relate emotionally to an experience or another person's emotions. Evidence supports the notion that students learn better and have greater positive perceptions when instructors display empathetic values and seek more meaningful relationships with their students. The purpose of this study was to assess…

Following a landmark court ruling in 2005, more than half of Germany's universities started charging tuition fees, which were subsequently abolished until 2015. We exploit the unusual lack of grandfathering in these policies to show that fees increase study effort and degree completion among incumbent students. However, fees also decrease…

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) are the primary providers of public postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities in the state. The purpose of this study was to determine which student demographic and enrollment characteristics significantly correlated with the completion of a postsecondary certificate or…

We provide the first estimated economic impacts of students' access to an entire sector of public higher education in the U.S. Approximately half of Georgia high school graduates who enroll in college do so in the state's public four-year sector, which requires minimum SAT scores for admission. Regression discontinuity estimates show enrollment in…

We explore the role of defaults and choice architecture on student loan decision-making, experimentally testing the impact pre-populating either decline or accept decisions compared to an active choice, no pre-population, decision. We demonstrate that the default choice presented does influence student loan borrowing decisions. Specifically,…

This annual report provides information regarding students who registered with disability services at Maryland colleges and universities. To better understand higher education outcomes for students with disabilities in Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Disabilities and in…

Sexual violence on college campuses is a salient threat to the health and well-being of students in higher education. Title IX legislation was developed to address and help reduce sex-based discrimination, including incidences of sexual violence, on college campuses. However, existing data suggests that a relatively small number of campus…

California faces a shortfall of over two million degrees and certificates to meet employers' needs and promote economic mobility for its residents, but an impending wave of prospective students may satisfy this demand. This report describes the 5.1 million California adults ages 25 and older, representing nearly a fifth of the adult population,…

This dissertation contains three chapters, each investigating a question in American economic history. The first chapter is co-authored with Ran Abramitzky, Santiago Perez, and Joseph Price. In this work, we conduct a large-scale digitization of historical college registers, encompassing 2.7 million students at 65 elite US universities. We use…

This annual report discusses data on the numbers of students who registered with disability services at Maryland colleges and universities and their completion and retention outcomes. To better understand higher education outcomes for students with disabilities in Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), in collaboration with the…

In the 1980s, leaders recognized a small set of institutions enrolled a large percentage of Latino students but had limited resources to educate these students. The classification of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) formally recognized these institutions for capacity-building and other support. Federal law defines HSIs as accredited,…

As noted in the national publication regarding the Value of HBCUs (Cotton, 2018), "Historically black colleges and universities have made a lasting global imprint on virtually every facet of culture and society. HBCU alumni have ascended to leadership positions in government, education, business and industry, science and technology, medicine,…

This annual report presents data on students who registered with disability services at Maryland colleges and universities and provides analysis on graduation, transfer and retention outcomes for those students. To better understand higher education outcomes for students with disabilities in Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission…

This annual report presents data on students who registered with disability services at Maryland colleges and universities and provides analysis on graduation and retention outcomes for those students. To better understand higher education outcomes for students with disabilities in Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), in…