A Cautionary Tale about Emergency Financial Assistance without Services: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation at a Community College
Abstract
Community college completion rates are extremely low, especially among low-income students. One potential explanation is that low-income students have limited capacity to overcome financial shocks, such as large medical, legal, or car repair bills. Some programs offer “emergency financial assistance” (EFA) to prevent these events from curtailing educational progress. We test the efficacy of EFA within the context of a broader randomized controlled trial at a community college in Texas. We find no evidence that access to EFA alone leads to improved outcomes. We speculate that EFA will only be effective if it is paired with additional case management services.
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The full Stay the Course (STC) treatment significantly increased student persistence and degree completion, but students who received access only to the emergency aid fund saw no increase in persistence or completion after six semesters.
“The authors find that while the full STC treatment significantly increased student persistence and degree completion, students who received access only to the emergency aid fund saw no increase in persistence or completion after six semesters (the authors note, however, that small positive effects cannot be ruled out).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Evans et. al, 2019
Out of 299 students offered access to the emergency aid fund, only 126 enrolled and only 74 ever made a claim; only 5% received the maximum emergency aid over three semesters.
“Evans et al. (2019) note that out of 299 students offered access to the emergency aid fund, only 126 enrolled and only 74 ever made a claim; only 5% received the maximum emergency aid over three semesters (up to $500 per semester for a total of $1500).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Evans et al. (2019)
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References 7 · Cited by 17
- Authors
- Evans, W. N., Kearney, M. S., Perry, B., & Sullivan, J. X.
- Affiliations
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- 940 W Concord Place, Chicago, IL 60614, and Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (email: )
- Venue
- AEA Papers and Proceedings
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2019-05-01
- Volume
- 109
- Pages
- 218-222
- ISSN
- 2574-0768 (ISSN-L)
- 2574-0776
- OpenAlex
- W2946629323
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 4.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- AEA Papers and Proceedings (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations
- Keywords
- emergency financial assistance, low-income students, financial shocks, case management services, student financial aid, program effectiveness
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