Overview

Published in August 2026, The 14-Year Effects of CUNY ASAP on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes is a report from MDRC, the Community College Research Center (CCRC), and the City University of New York (CUNY) that revisits a 2010 controlled trial of CUNY's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) model. This latest report assesses ASAP's long-term impacts on degree completion and, for the first time, labor market outcomes in New York.

ASAP is a comprehensive student support program launched by CUNY in 2007 that provides full-time students with intensive advising, tutoring, career development services, tuition gap coverage, free textbooks, and transportation assistance. The goal is to help students graduate with an associate's degree within three years.

The report's two primary findings center on:

• Degree completion
  • 14 years after students first joined the evaluation, 57.7% of those offered ASAP earned a degree, compared with 50.0% of the control group.
  • At the three-year mark, ASAP's estimated effect on graduation rates was 17.1 percentage points.
• Labor market outcomes
  • Despite the large positive effects on degree completion, ASAP did not produce a statistically significant impact on annual earnings in New York State.
  • In the last two years of available follow-up data, those offered ASAP earned approximately $36,000 per year, compared with approximately $38,000 per year for the control group.

The report explores a few possible explanations for the apparent lack of earnings gains:

• The most supported explanation is that much of ASAP's effect on degree completion came from students completing degrees in fields historically associated with lower earnings, including liberal arts associate's degrees intended for transfer. The report also notes that the New York State unemployment insurance data used for the study do not capture employment outside New York.
• MDRC states that future analyses will address this issue using national data. A forthcoming synthesis report will incorporate out-of-state labor market data and compare the CUNY findings with those from Ohio, where ASAP replication programs produced 12% to 14% higher earnings for participants six to eight years after enrollment.

Background

CUNY ASAP is widely regarded as one of the most rigorously tested and replicated college completion programs in the country. Its 17 percentage point effect on three-year graduation rates — more than three times larger than any other program evaluated by MDRC outside of ASAP replications — established it as a benchmark model for comprehensive student support.

ASAP has been replicated in eight states: Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, Maryland, Tennessee, West Virginia

In 2025, Arnold Ventures invested $35.6 million to replicate the ASAP model across the North Carolina Community College System, with a focus on degree programs tied to high-demand workforce sectors.

Partners

• MDRC
• Community College Research Center (CCRC)
• City University of New York (CUNY)

Funders

• Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education
• Arnold Ventures
• Ascendium Education Group
• Yield Giving / MacKenzie Scott

Resources