We consider four distinct policy levers available to states for raising bachelor's degree completion rates in the United States through their public colleges and universities. We simulate these policies using elasticities from the existing literature and a matched College Board/National Student Clearinghouse data set on enrollment and degree completion. Increasing spending at public colleges and targeted elimination of tuition and fees at four-year public colleges with an income cutoff are projected to be the most effective of these policies in terms of cost per additional bachelor's degree. Reducing tuition and fees at public colleges and a distinct policy of moving students to the best available in-state public college (BISPO) are next best on a cost-benefit basis. Free community college policies are significantly less cost-effective at raising bachelor's degree completion, though such policies do improve other outcomes. Reducing community college tuition and fees to zero does lead to more associate degrees, though students are drawn away from the four-year sector in the process. Low-income students see the smallest gains from free community college policies since these students already face very low net prices of attendance.

我们考虑了四个不同的政策杠杆，可供各州通过其公立大学和大学提高美国的学士学位完成率。我们使用现有文献中的弹性以及匹配的大学理事会/国家学生信息交换所数据集（关于入学和学位完成情况）来模拟这些政策。就每增加一个学士学位的成本而言，预计增加公立大学的支出，并有针对性地取消四年制公立大学的学费和收支，这是这些政策中最有效的政策。在成本效益的基础上，降低公立大学的学杂费的独特政策是将学生转移到州内最好的公立大学（BISPO）。免费的社区大学政策在提高学士学位完成率方面的成本效益显着降低，尽管这样的政策确实可以改善其他成果。将社区大学的学杂费减至零确实会带来更高的副学士学位，尽管在此过程中，学生被从四年制课程中撤离了。低收入学生从免费社区大学政策中获得的收益最小，因为这些学生已经面临极低的出勤净价格。