Do Students Respond to Sticker-Price Reductions? Evidence From the North Carolina Promise

Reduced or free tuition policies are an increasingly popular policy tool for states looking to increase postsecondary enrollment. However, sticker-price reductions are relatively rare in the four-year sector, so we do not know how they will impact student enrollment decisions. Using IPEDS data and a synthetic control approach, we investigate the impact of the North Carolina Promise on enrollment and persistence. NC Promise is a state-level policy that reduced the price of tuition for students enrolled at three public universities in North Carolina starting in fall 2018. We find that NC Promise did not appear to increase enrollment among first-year students. However, it attracted more transfer students and increased enrollment of Hispanic students at one of the institutions.