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Project Description

In Opening Doors to Earning Credentials, MDRC will work with community colleges in each of several states to design and implement new types of financial aid, enhanced student services, and curricular and instructional innovations. The goal is to reach low-income people who most likely would not otherwise enroll in college and to help them persevere long enough to earn a credential. Integral to the demonstration project will be a random assignment study measuring how the Opening Doors interventions affect low-income students’ education, labor market, and personal outcomes. The Opening Doors demonstration grew out of earlier efforts to learn about the factors that affect low-income students’ college enrollment and completion.

Project duration: May 2001 - Dec 2008

Sites studied include Brooklyn, NY;
Cleveland, Toledo, Elryia, OH;
New Orleans, City Park, West Bank, West Jefferson, LA;
Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

Students will be randomly assigned either to the Opening Doors group, which will receive enhanced services, or to a control group, which will receive existing services.

Recent Findings in Brief

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