Raising the Stakes: Impacts of the Complete College Tennessee Act on Underserved Student Enrollment and Sub-Baccalaureate Credentials

In 2010, Tennessee enacted the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), which increased the proportion of state performance-based funding from 5.45% to 85% and added a 40% funding premium for progression and degree completions by adult students and low-income students. We collect data from 2001-02 to 2014-15 and use difference-in-differences estimation to compare a variety of counterfactual scenarios and examine the impacts of the CCTA. In response to the CCTA, community colleges in Tennessee saw, on average, a 10% to 18% decline in the number of adult students and a 17% to 31% increase in the number of low-income students. Additionally, the CCTA produced no changes in associate degree completions yet significant increases in short-term certificates (192% to 249%) and medium-term certificates (129% to 144%).