The effect of course shutouts on community college students: Evidence from waitlist cutoffs

One frequently cited yet understudied channel through which funding levels impact college students is course availability—colleges are often forced to respond budgetary pressure by reducing offerings. We provide the first causal evidence on this mechanism at a community college, using administrative registration data and novel research design that exploits discontinuities in admissions created waitlists. Community colleges enroll about half of U.S. undergraduates over minority public colleges. The impacts availability setting may be especially salient relative four-year due open policies, binding class size constraints, heavy reliance state funding. Across range bandwidths, we find stuck waitlist shut out section were 22–28 percent more likely take zero courses term baseline 10 percent. Shutouts also increased transfer rates nearby, but potentially less-desirable two-year These results offer some can disrupt students’ educational trajectories.