📢 #EdWorkingPapers: A new study by @eburland.bsky.social and colleagues shows how administrative burdens and fractured responsibilities limit take-up of Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program.

📄 Full paper here: edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1283

My department is searching for two tenure-line positions to start in August 2026. Come join our growing team and make a difference in building the future!

Assistant professor of higher education: apply.interfolio.com/172680

Associate/full professor of education policy: apply.interfolio.com/172632

NEW!

Improving College Reenrollment and Completion for “Stopped-Out” Students

A random assignment evaluation with @justinortagus.bsky.social examining the effectiveness of the REACT intervention at four colleges in Florida. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

I have some news: After 10 years at the University of Florida (UF), I've joined the University of Texas at Austin as a Professor in the College of Education and LBJ School of Public Affairs. I'll miss my friends and colleagues at UF, but I'm looking forward to this next phase of my career.

A new practitioner's guide to staggered difference-in-difference designs

arxiv.org/pdf/2503.13323

I'm quoted in this interesting write-up featured in @npr.org, which focuses on why online courses don't necessarily cost less than face-to-face courses in higher education.

www.npr.org/2025/03/15/n...

New @ #RIHE: @justinortagus.bsky.social et al. use fuzzy RDD to examine impact of online enrollment in intro STEM coursework on students’ probability of STEM success. They find that taking the online version of a required intro STEM course increases students’ time-to-degree. doi.org/10.1007/s111...

How are parents affected by their kid going to college? How are they affected when their kid gets a scholarship or grant?

New working paper with @palaashbhargava.bsky.social @econsandy.bsky.social @odedgurantz.bsky.social and Rob Fairlie

www.nber.org/papers/w33497

🚨 Updated findings of a re-enrollment intervention 🚨

In our new paper, we find that our re-enrollment intervention had no effect on students’ likelihood of long-term persistence or credential completion for the pooled sample and every subgroup of interest.

direct.mit.edu/edfp/article...

We just received a "stop work notice" for an IES review panel scheduled to happen next week.

I testified yesterday about the intended and unintended consequences of performance-based funding for Pennsylvania to consider when implementing the policy. Here's some coverage of the hearing by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: www.post-gazette.com/news/politic...

This is a thoughtful piece on the issue of lower completion rates for fully online colleges. And I expect to see @justinortagus.bsky.social twirling a mustache the next time I see him on Zoom. www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-in...

Important new research by @riacton.bsky.social and colleagues uses Texas data to look at how sensitive students are to distance to the nearest colleges, with important differences by race/ethnicity.

www.nber.org/papers/w33337

I'm making my glorious return to Bluesky to promote our forthcoming paper on the (generally positive) influence of HBCU enrollment on a host of longer-term outcomes. Really enjoyed working with Ashley Edwards, @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social, and Andria Smythe.

My latest paper focuses on exclusively online degree programs and is now available online. We find a negative relationship between enrolling in an exclusively online degree program and degree completion, particularly at for-profit four-year institutions.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/...

Looking forward to digging into this new working paper! @justinortagus.bsky.social
"HBCU Enrollment and Longer-Term Outcomes"
Link: edworkingpapers.com/ai23-883

My research team's newest article is out in Educational Researcher. We examined the extent to which different state funding models are associated with college access and success. Short answer: not much, which aligns with research on performance funding.