School Vouchers and College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence From Washington, DC.

This article evaluates the impact of Washington, DC's Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), the only federally funded school voucher program in the U.S., on college enrollment outcomes for low-income students who applied in 2004 and 2005. Using a randomized lottery design, the study finds no statistically significant difference in college enrollment rates or types of colleges attended between students offered private school scholarships and those who were not. These findings hold across various student subgroups and time frames up to five years after expected high school graduation. The study notes limitations including imprecise estimates, changes in DC's public school system over time, and the presence of alternative school choice options such as charter schools. Overall, the results suggest that winning an OSP scholarship did not significantly increase or decrease college enrollment among participants from the initial cohorts studied.