Abstract

A large body of research documents the barriers faced by first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students as “hidden minorities” onelite college campuses. Although existing studies show brief psy-chological interventions can help mitigate some of these obstacles,universities are investing in more intensive interventions that try toboth shift mindsets and mitigate structural disadvantages in FGLI stu-dents’ academic preparation. In collaboration with the administratorsat a highly selective university, we conducted the first randomizedcontrolled trial of a summer bridge program targeted at FGLI students.During summers between 2017 and 2019, we randomly selected 232out of 418 first-generation or low-income students and invited themto attend an intensive, six-week long residential summer programfeaturing courses for academic credit. Students randomized to thecontrol group either interacted with online content offering no aca-demic credit or had no summer intervention. Our pre-registeredanalysis shows that the program encouraged FGLI students to pursuea more ambitious first-year program, increasing the proportion ofnon-introductory courses by 7 percentage points. The program alsoincreased the proportion of courses taken for a grade rather than aspass-fail by 6 percentage points. These improvements were accom-panied by no discernible impact on first-year GPAs and academicwithdrawal. The findings show the ability to academically integrateFGLI students into selective university communities.

Replication Archive

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DLBFNS

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