Scott-Clayton writes about a study, released days after Cuomo's proposal, that directly compares the impact of reducing sticker prices at colleges versus increasing institutional spending per student.  

The central question, Scott-Clayton says, is: "[D]oes the marginal dollar spent on higher education have a bigger impact on enrollment and completion if it is used to reduce the sticker prices students face, or instead to increase institutional expenditures that affect the experience they receive once they enroll?" A study by David Deming of Harvard University and Christopher Walters of the University of California at Berkeley finds "large effects when state funds are used to increase institutional expenditures, but virtually no effect when they are used for across-the-board reductions in sticker price," according to Scott-Clayton.

The post originally appeared as part of Evidence Speaks, a weekly series of reports and notes by a standing panel of researchers under the editorship of Russ Whitehurst.

To read the Education Next post, go here.

Published Friday, Jan 27, 2017

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speakers to whom they are attributed. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, administration, or staff either of Teachers College or of Columbia University.