While research has documented outcomes for students served by promise programs, few studies have considered the behavior of institutions themselves in the promise era. A new source of revenue combined with larger and more diverse cohorts is likely to motivate changes in spending and staffing—decisions instrumental to student access and success. We employ complementary difference-in-differences and synthetic control strategies to estimate impacts of the first statewide promise program on these two outcomes. Findings suggest institutions diverted expenditures away from instruction, academic support, and institutional support toward greater institutional grant awards. We find no meaningful impact on staffing levels. While some institutional actions may further support the access and success goals of promise programs, the diversity of programs across the nation suggests not all may follow suit. This study should inform policy makers considering the full extent of outcomes of free-college programs and invigorate further research on institutional responses.

虽然研究记录了承诺项目为学生提供的结果，但很少有研究考虑了承诺时代机构本身的行为。新的收入来源与更大、更多样化的群体相结合，可能会推动支出和人员配备的变化——这些决定有助于学生入学和成功。我们采用互补的差异和综合控制策略来估计第一个全州承诺计划对这两个结果的影响。调查结果表明，机构将支出从教学、学术支持和机构支持转移到更大的机构赠款奖励上。我们发现对人员配备水平没有有意义的影响。虽然一些机构行动可能会进一步支持承诺计划的获取和成功目标，全国范围内项目的多样性表明并非所有人都会效仿。这项研究应告知政策制定者，考虑免费大学计划的全部成果，并激发对机构反应的进一步研究。