These results have important policy implications. The YRP was authorized in August 2008 and put into effect the following July 2009. But final regulations from the Department of Education were not published until October 2009. Even though it was officially authorized, this uncertainty might have been correlated with the low take-up in the first year of the program. This holds true for the last year of the YRP program as well. The YRP was eliminated in April 2011, effective July 2011 but students could still receive the YRP if they had remaining eligibility from the 2010-2011 year. Results show that the effects for 2010 are still positive, but are smaller than the effects for 2009. Thus, it is plausible that the news and media attention surrounding the elimination of the program might have discouraged students from receiving the grant (or campus personnel from suggesting it). President proposed budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year includes a proposal to Obama’s reinstate the YRP program. Overall, results from this paper show that the YRP had a positive significant effect on the number of summer units enrolled and earned, for students with a $0 EFC. It had a positive, albeit not significant, effect on the overall summer enrollment of at least six units. But the differential results by year highlights the importance of timing and information dissemination in the roll-out of new policies and programs. Overall, these results suggest that the YRP Grant did not increase the number of students enrolling in the summer term, but did encourage students to enroll in more units. More research is needed to determine if the YRP had positive effects on its intended goal to student “accelerate” trajectories, including degree completion and time-to-degree. References
These results have important policy implications. The YRP was authorized in August 2008 and put into effect the following July 2009. But final regulations from the Department of Education were not published until October 2009. Even though it was officially authorized, this uncertainty might have been correlated with the low take-up in the first year of the program. This holds true for the last year of the YRP program as well. The YRP was eliminated in April 2011, effective July 2011 but students could still receive the YRP if they had remaining eligibility from the 2010-2011 year. Results show that the effects for 2010 are still positive, but are smaller than the effects for 2009. Thus, it is plausible that the news and media attention surrounding the elimination of the program might have discouraged students from receiving the grant (or campus personnel from suggesting it). President Obama’s proposed budget for the 2017-2018 fiscal year includes a proposal to reinstate the YRP program. Overall, results from this paper show that the YRP had a positive significant effect on the number of summer units enrolled and earned, for students with a $0 EFC. It had a positive, albeit not significant, effect on the overall summer enrollment of at least six units. But the differential results by year highlights the importance of timing and information dissemination in the roll-out of new policies and programs. Overall, these results suggest that the YRP Grant did not increase the number of students enrolling in the summer term, but did encourage students to enroll in more units. More research is needed to determine if the YRP had positive effects on its intended goal to “accelerate” student trajectories, including degree completion and time-to-degree. References
Friedmann_AEFP.docx