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Washington State Institute for Public Policy
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Summer outreach counseling (for high school graduates)

Higher Education
Benefit-cost methods last updated December 2024.  Literature review updated December 2016.
Throughout the summer, counselors provide support and outreach on financial aid tasks, informational barriers, and social or emotional challenges related to the college transition. Counselors may reach out via email, in-person consultations, phone, text, or instant messages. Summer outreach counseling occurs during the three months between high school graduation and the first year of college.
 
ALL
BENEFIT-COST
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS
For an overview of WSIPP's Benefit-Cost Model, please see this guide. The estimates shown are present value, life cycle benefits and costs. All dollars are expressed in the base year chosen for this analysis (2023).  The chance the benefits exceed the costs are derived from a Monte Carlo risk analysis. The details on this, as well as the economic discount rates and other relevant parameters are described in our Technical Documentation.
Benefit-Cost Summary Statistics Per Participant
Benefits to:
Taxpayers $4,965 Benefits minus costs $23,760
Participants $12,236 Benefit to cost ratio $202.99
Others $7,295 Chance the program will produce
Indirect ($618) benefits greater than the costs 91%
Total benefits $23,878
Net program cost ($118)
Benefits minus cost $23,760

^WSIPP’s benefit-cost model does not monetize this outcome.

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured Treatment age No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) used in the benefit-cost analysis Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
First time ES is estimated Second time ES is estimated
ES SE Age ES SE Age ES p-value
Enroll in 4-year college
Enroll in a 4-year higher education institution.
 18 2 1015 0.118 0.053 18 0.118 0.053 18 0.118 0.025
Enroll in 2-year college
Enroll in a 2-year higher education institution.
 18 2 1015 -0.026 0.072 18 -0.026 0.072 18 -0.026 0.721
Enroll in any college^
Enroll in either a 2-year or 4-year higher education institution.
 18 5 4697 0.102 0.033 18 n/a n/a n/a 0.137 0.030
1In addition to the outcomes measured in the meta-analysis table, WSIPP measures benefits and costs estimated from other outcomes associated with those reported in the evaluation literature. For example, empirical research demonstrates that high school graduation leads to reduced crime. These associated measures provide a more complete picture of the detailed costs and benefits of the program.

2“Others” includes benefits to people other than taxpayers and participants. Depending on the program, it could include reductions in crime victimization, the economic benefits from a more educated workforce, and the benefits from employer-paid health insurance.

3“Indirect benefits” includes estimates of the net changes in the value of a statistical life and net changes in the deadweight costs of taxation.
Detailed Monetary Benefit Estimates Per Participant
Affected outcome: Resulting benefits:1 Benefits accrue to:
Taxpayers Participants Others2 Indirect3 Total
Enroll in 2-year college Labor market earnings associated with higher education $6,082 $14,328 $7,951 $0 $28,361
Costs of higher education ($1,117) ($2,092) ($656) ($559) ($4,424)
Program cost Adjustment for deadweight cost of program $0 $0 $0 ($59) ($59)
Totals $4,965 $12,236 $7,295 ($618) $23,878
Click here to see populations selected
Detailed Annual Cost Estimates Per Participant
Annual cost Year dollars Summary
Program costs $87 2009 Present value of net program costs (in 2023 dollars) ($118)
Comparison costs $0 2009 Cost range (+ or -) 20%
Costs come from studies included in the meta-analysis. We calculate a weighted average of costs across the studies included in the meta-analysis. Costs include counselor time, peer mentor time, and material and postage occurring during the summer months after high school graduation.
The figures shown are estimates of the costs to implement programs in Washington. The comparison group costs reflect either no treatment or treatment as usual, depending on how effect sizes were calculated in the meta-analysis. The cost range reported above reflects potential variation or uncertainty in the cost estimate; more detail can be found in our Technical Documentation.
Benefits Minus Costs
Benefits by Perspective
Taxpayer Benefits by Source of Value
Benefits Minus Costs Over Time (Cumulative Discounted Dollars)
The graph above illustrates the estimated cumulative net benefits per-participant for the first fifty years beyond the initial investment in the program. We present these cash flows in discounted dollars. If the dollars are negative (bars below $0 line), the cumulative benefits do not outweigh the cost of the program up to that point in time. The program breaks even when the dollars reach $0. At this point, the total benefits to participants, taxpayers, and others, are equal to the cost of the program. If the dollars are above $0, the benefits of the program exceed the initial investment.

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Castleman, B.L., & Page, L.C. (2015). Summer nudging: Can personalized text messages and peer mentor outreach increase college going among low-income high school graduates? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 115(3), 144-160.

Castleman, B.L., Arnold, K., & Wartman, K.L. (2012). Stemming the tide of summer melt: An experimental study of the effects of post-high school summer intervention on low-income students’ college enrollment. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 5(1), 1-17.

Castleman, B.L., Page, L.C., & Schooley, K. (2014). The forgotten summer: Does the offer of college counseling after high school mitigate summer melt among college-intending, low-income high school graduates? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(2), 320-344.

Castleman, B.L., Owen, L., & Page, L.C. (2015). Stay late or start early? Experimental evidence on the benefits of college matriculation support from high schools versus colleges. Economics of Education Review, 47, 168-179.

Daugherty, L. (2012). Summer Link: A counseling intervention to address the transition from high school to college in a large urban district. Paper presented at the 2012 Fall Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Baltimore, MD.