Long-term randomized controlled trial (RCT) results for...

ASAP at the City University of New York (CUNY), Providing Comprehensive Supports to Low-Income Community College Students

Reviewed

Postsecondary Education
Accurately reported
Credible positive finding

MDRC (August 2026) posted long-term RCT results for the CUNY ASAP program, which provides academic, personal, and financial supports to low-income community college students. At the 14-year follow-up, this high-quality RCT found a sizable 8 percentage point increase in degree completion but no discernible impact on annual earnings.

Relevant Excerpt from Study Overview

ASAP substantially increased rates of degree completion. Fourteen years after students first joined the evaluation, 57.7 percent of those offered ASAP earned a degree, compared with 50.0 percent of the students who were not offered ASAP. This represents an estimated effect of 7.7 percentage points, which is large and statistically significant. Despite the large positive effects on degree completion, ASAP did not produce a statistically discernible impact on annual earnings in New York State. In the last two years of available follow-up data, those offered ASAP earned approximately $36,000 per year, compared with some $38,000 per year for their control group counterparts. This represents an estimated effect of -$2,011, which is not statistically significant.

The degree completion findings reinforce the robust evidence base demonstrating that ASAP is a powerful model for increasing degree completion, and that this effect is very long lasting at CUNY. The labor market findings in Ohio show that ASAP can have positive effects on long-term earnings, but the findings in CUNY show that these effects are not a foregone conclusion, even when effects on degree completion are impressive. Together, the findings raise questions about how and under what conditions postsecondary completion programs translate academic success into economic gains. A forthcoming report will incorporate labor market outcomes beyond New York State and synthesize the New York and Ohio results, potentially shedding further light on these questions.

Full Study Report

We have no suggested revisions to the study overview.

No-Spin’s Study Overview

Large, high-quality RCT of CUNY’s ASAP program, which provides academic, personal, and financial supports to low-income community college students, finds a sizable 8 percentage point increase in degree completion but no discernible impact on annual earnings 14 years after study entry.

Program:

  • CUNY ASAP provides comprehensive academic, personal, and financial supports to low-income community college students, and requires them to enroll full time.
  • Participation is offered to new students and continuing students who have earned 12 or fewer credits, and is voluntary.

Study Design:

  • The study sample comprised 896 students with remedial education needs, recruited from CUNY’s three largest community colleges. Their average age was 21.5, 77% were Black or Hispanic, and all were either eligible for a Pell Grant or had family income below 200% of the federal poverty level.
  • The students were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that was eligible to receive ASAP services (n=451) or a control group that received the colleges’ usual services (n=445).
  • Based on our review criteria, this was a well-conducted RCT.

Findings on the Primary Outcomes:

  • Fourteen years after study entry, the RCT found a statistically significant 8 percentage point increase in completion of a degree at any US college (58% of the treatment group completed a degree vs. 50% of the control group, p=0.02).
  • This effect, while sizable, was modestly smaller than the 11 percentage point impact found at the eight-year follow-up. It was driven by an increase in two-year associate’s degree completion; the study found no effect on four-year bachelor’s degree completion.
  • Despite the sizable increase in degree completion, the study found no discernible impact on average annual earnings in New York state in the last two years of available follow-up data (11.5-13.5 years after study entry). The treatment group earned an average of $36,038 per year compared to $38,049 for the control group, a difference that slightly favored the control group but was not statistically significant (p=0.48).

Comment:

  • The ASAP model has consistently been found to produce sizable increases in degree completion, based on four high-quality RCTs including the study summarized above.
  • The lack of earnings impacts found in this ASAP study contrasts with the 14% earnings gain found in long-term follow-up of the ASAP Ohio study. The reasons for the discrepant findings are unclear. Future research, including ongoing long-term follow-ups of other ASAP RCTs, may shed light on this question.  

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