Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This study investigates how a group of New York City public schools use texting to increase enrollment and persistence in college. Text messages include tips and reminders to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as well as college tips. Our multiple regression results suggest that although the starting year of the texting did not appear to matter, the texting program increased enrollment and persistence in college. In addition, response rates were positively associated with enrollment and persistence. These results are consistent across various specifications. Finally, we find that the content of the messages themselves as well as individual characteristics affected response rates.