1
2018–2019Listen to scholars
Interviews and survey data identify motivation, uncovered costs, basic needs, and institutional relationships.
← Research & Public Scholarship
Main research arc
Tuition-Free College
A connected research program on the Kalamazoo Promise: what tuition support opens, what it leaves unresolved, and which conditions shape persistence, completion, and equity.
Student experienceSupport beyond tuitionStop-out & reenrollmentAccess & equity
The Kalamazoo Promise research program
Tuition is the beginning of the policy story—not the end.
Across eight studies, this work moves from scholars' own accounts to longitudinal outcomes and structural inequities. The central question is not simply whether tuition-free college “works,” but for whom, under what conditions, and with which supports.
Qualitative interviewsSurvey researchLongitudinal cohortsStructural modeling
Choose your pathway
What brings you to this research?
Start with the big findings, then open any study for a plain-language explanation.
Research journey
How the agenda developed
Follow the questions as they move from lived experience to outcomes, systems, and public meaning.
2
2021–2022Model persistence and support
Studies examine stop-out, comparative outcomes, mentoring, and the limits of tuition alone.
3
2023Follow return and disruption
Longitudinal work traces reenrollment and the effects of the pandemic on two-year college entry.
4
2023–presentInterrogate equity
Race-conscious analysis asks who benefits—and which accumulated inequalities remain after tuition is covered.
Interactive research map
Trace the pathway through the evidence
Select a stage to see the studies that examine it. The map synthesizes relationships across the research program; it does not imply that every connection is causal.
Promise scholars reached a degree-attainment rate that was not statistically different from the public-school comparison group, despite entering with greater disadvantage.
Source: Bridge of Promise ↗Tuition support created opportunity, but also a powerful personal pressure to succeed.
Source: Conversing With Kalamazoo Promise Scholars ↗The return rate was three times the comparable Michigan and national trend cited in the study.
Source: Sometimes a Long and Winding Road ↗Leaving college was not the end of the educational pathway for many Promise scholars.
Source: Sometimes a Long and Winding Road ↗Across the evidence
Select a finding to trace its evidence
Choosing a finding filters the study collection to the research that supports it.
Interactive evidence library
Explore the studies
Filter the collection, then open a study for its question, method, findings, implication, citation, and connections.
8of 8 studies shown
Qualitative2018Conversing With Promise Scholars
Drawing on student interviews, this study explores the beliefs, motivations, and experiences of Kalamazoo Promise scholars. Students expressed appreciation and motivation, but work, debt, and costs beyond tuition meant that the scholarship did not eliminate financial distress.
Explore this study+
How do Kalamazoo Promise scholars understand their motivations, responsibilities, and experiences as tuition-free college students?
In-depth qualitative interviews with 20 Kalamazoo Promise scholars.
Major findings
- Students described deep appreciation for the Promise and strong motivation to succeed.
- Some experienced guilt when their academic performance did not meet their expectations.
- Work, student debt, and costs beyond tuition remained part of the college experience.
Why it matters
Tuition support can transform access while leaving significant financial and emotional pressures unresolved.
Connected studies
Collier, D. A., & Parnther, C. (2018). Conversing With Kalamazoo Promise Scholars. Journal of College Student Retention.
Read the full studyMixed methods2019Helping Students Keep the Promise
This study connects students' basic needs, motivation, and institutional engagement to performance and persistence at a four-year university. The findings show that tuition support operates alongside housing stability, academic motivation, GPA, and interactions with institutional staff.
Explore this study+
How do basic needs, motivation, and institutional engagement relate to academic performance and stop-out among Promise scholars?
Survey and institutional data for 142 Kalamazoo Promise scholars at a four-year institution.
Major findings
- Students who stopped out were more likely to report homelessness.
- Amotivation, engagement, GPA, and staff interactions were related to academic outcomes.
- Financial access did not remove the need for sustained institutional support.
Why it matters
Promise programs work within a larger student-support ecosystem; basic needs and relationships remain central to persistence.
Connected studies
Collier, Parnther, Fitzpatrick, Brehm, & Beach (2019). Helping Students Keep the Promise. Innovative Higher Education, 44, 333–350.
Read the full studyQualitative2022Meaning Making of Mentorship
This qualitative study examines how first-year tuition-free students understand and experience mentorship. Many viewed mentoring transactionally or did not identify a mentor, suggesting that access to potential mentors does not automatically produce meaningful developmental relationships.
Explore this study+
How do tuition-free college students make meaning of mentorship during their first year?
Qualitative interviews with 20 first-year, full-tuition scholarship students.
Major findings
- Students often described mentoring in transactional terms.
- Half did not identify a mentor despite having access to people or experiences that could support mentoring.
- Students needed clearer explanations of mentorship and how developmental relationships form.
Why it matters
Offering mentoring opportunities is not enough; institutions must help students recognize, enter, and sustain meaningful mentoring relationships.
Connected studies
Parnther, C., & Collier, D. A. (2022). Meaning Making of Mentorship for the Tuition-Free Student. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 11(2), 183–194.
Read the full studyQuantitative2021Modeling First-Year Stop-Out
This study models how socioeconomic advantage, precollege performance, immediate enrollment, and Promise funding relate to first-year stop-out. First-year college GPA emerged as the strongest predictor, demonstrating the importance of students' early academic experiences after access is secured.
Explore this study+
How do socioeconomic advantage, precollege performance, immediate enrollment, and Promise funding relate to first-year stop-out?
Kalamazoo Promise cohorts analyzed with structural equation modeling and predictive classification.
Major findings
- First-year college GPA had the strongest relationship with first-year stop-out.
- Socioeconomic advantage and high-school performance also mattered.
- The influence of socioeconomic advantage appeared smaller in later cohorts.
Why it matters
Tuition-free policy expands opportunity, but early college performance and the conditions students bring with them remain critical intervention points.
Connected studies
Collier, D. A., & McMullen, I. (2021). Modeling First-Year Stop-Out of Kalamazoo Promise Scholars. Journal of College Student Retention.
Read the full studyLongitudinal2023Sometimes a Long and Winding Road
This longitudinal study follows Promise scholars after they leave college without immediately completing a credential. Forty-five percent of students who stopped out later reenrolled, and 30% of those who returned eventually completed a credential—showing that departure is not always permanent.
Explore this study+
What happens after Promise scholars stop out, and which patterns characterize reenrollment and later credential completion?
Longitudinal analysis of Kalamazoo Promise cohorts entering from 2006 through 2017.
Major findings
- Seventy-eight percent were retained from the first to second year.
- Forty-five percent of students who stopped out later reenrolled.
- Among reenrolled students, 30% eventually earned a credential.
Why it matters
Stop-out should not be treated as a permanent endpoint; flexible return policies and long-term tracking can better support students' winding paths.
Connected studies
Collier, D. A., & McMullen, I. (2023). Sometimes a Long and Winding Road. Journal of College Student Retention, 24(4), 883–908.
Read the full studyLongitudinal2023COVID-19 and Two-Year Enrollment
This study examines immediate two-year college enrollment and persistence among Promise scholars during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrollment declined for two consecutive cohorts and first-year stop-out increased, revealing the limits of tuition support during a broad social and institutional shock.
Explore this study+
How did the COVID-19 pandemic relate to immediate two-year college enrollment and first-year persistence among Promise scholars?
Recent Kalamazoo Promise cohorts entering Kalamazoo Valley Community College before and during the pandemic.
Major findings
- Immediate enrollment decreased for two consecutive cohorts.
- Declines were especially pronounced among students with lower high-school performance.
- First-year stop-out increased and the student population changed demographically.
Why it matters
Even generous tuition support has limits during a broad social shock; colleges need stabilizing supports beyond tuition.
Connected studies
McMullen, I., & Collier, D. A. (2023). COVID-19 and Immediate 2-Year College Enrollment and Persistence. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2023(203), 75–85.
Read the full studyQuantitative2022Bridge of Promise
This study compares Kalamazoo Promise scholars with other public-school students attending a four-year institution. Weighted outcome differences were null, but the inability to construct a fully comparable group underscores how the Promise expanded access for a distinct student population.
Explore this study+
How do the characteristics and academic outcomes of Kalamazoo Promise students compare with other public-school students at a four-year institution?
Institutional data for 9,969 students, including 310 Kalamazoo Promise scholars, analyzed with weighting and comparison methods.
Major findings
- Promise scholars were more racially diverse and less affluent than the broader comparison group.
- Unweighted outcome gaps became null after weighting.
- The researchers could not construct a fully comparable matched sample.
Why it matters
Traditional comparison designs can miss the access-expanding function of Promise programs when recipients differ fundamentally from students already represented in higher education.
Connected studies
Collier, Fitzpatrick, Houston, & Archer (2022). Bridge of Promise. Journal of College Student Retention, 24(3), 676–702.
Read the full studyQuantitative2023A Promise Kept for Whom?
This study asks whether pathways to college access and success operate similarly across racial groups under a race-neutral tuition-free program. The Promise reduced socioeconomic barriers, but accumulated racial and precollege advantages continued to shape students' outcomes.
Explore this study+
Do the pathways to college access and success operate similarly for Black, Latinx, and White students under a race-neutral tuition-free program?
Multiple-group structural equation models using 2011–2017 Black, Latinx, and White Kalamazoo Promise cohorts.
Major findings
- The Promise reduced socioeconomic barriers for Black and Latinx students.
- White students continued to benefit from accumulated racial and precollege advantages.
- A race-neutral tuition policy could not by itself undo prior structural inequality.
Why it matters
Universal tuition policy can widen access while still requiring race-conscious supports and broader structural interventions to advance equity.
Connected studies
Martínez, Collier, Byrd, & McMullen (2023). A Promise Kept for Whom? Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
Read the full study