The effects of free college:
Thanks to a group of anonymous benefactors, students educated in [Kalamazoo’s] K-12 school system receive paid tuition at almost any college in the state…. According to the evaluation team, women in the program “experience very large gains,” including an increase of 45% in college-completion rates, while “men seem to experience zero benefit.”
The cost-benefit analysis showed an overall gain of $69,000 per female participant — a return on investment of at least 12% — compared to an overall loss of $21,000 for each male participant. In short, for men, the program was both costly and ineffective.
The effects of mentoring and support at community colleges:
An evaluation of … “Stay the Course” at Tarrant County College, a two-year community college in Fort Worth, Texas [found that] among women, the … initiative tripled associate-degree completion… But the program had no impact on college completion rates for men.
This is from Richard Reeves and the summary by Timothy Taylor.