Document Author: Milad Mohebali

The Power of Partnerships: Field Experiments for Translational Impact in Higher Education (2025)

As support for higher education practice and research retracts and campuses
seek ways to adapt, we encourage community college leaders and
scholars to look to one another and embrace partnerships to advance
campus and student success. Randomized field experiments, long at the
crossroads of ideological struggles in education, offer a unique opportunity
to impact research, practice, and policy. We offer partnerships as
a tool to bridge the field experiment divide and move forward with
a both/and thinking approach. Drawing on insights from our longstanding
collaboration, we elaborate on a field experiment done in partnership
as an example of aligning institutional and research goals to advance
policy and practice with ethical intentionality and efficiency. In doing so,
we argue for the potential of field experiments without falling into purist
ideals of causal analysis as a panacea for solving higher education’s
problems or dismissing them altogether for their shortfalls and
challenges.

Meal Vouchers Matter for Academic Attainment: A Community College Field Experiment (2023)

Given growing awareness of the high prevalence of food insecurity among college students, higher education leaders are
implementing various food interventions on their campuses. However, there is little research on the efficacy and impact of
these initiatives. Using data from a field randomized control trial, we find that a relatively modest financial investment in
campus meal cards coupled with proactive outreach by an existing campus office improved community college students’
academic attainment outcomes. Students who were invited to participate in the meal voucher program attempted and
completed more credits during their first year of college and were more likely to graduate in 2 years than otherwise similar
peers, indicating that a campus meal program can promote college success.

Basic Needs Insecurity and Mental Health: Community College Students’ Dual Challenges and Use of Social Support (2022)

The objective of this study is to examine the potential co-occurrence of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems among community college students. These barriers to student success are gaining significant attention from college leaders and scholars, but they are often addressed in isolation, ignoring the potential reinforcing nature of these challenges. We use data from a national survey of community college students to examine the relationship between experiences of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems, and investigate the support systems that students rely on for help. Findings indicate that students who experience basic needs insecurity are substantively and significantly more likely than their materially secure peers to report depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, planning, or attempt, even after accounting for background characteristics. Those with both food and housing insecurities are even more likely to report mental health problems and the likelihood is positively associated with severity of material hardship. Given limited institutional supports, students often rely on friends or family for emotional and mental support. Receipt of social support is higher among those with mental health challenges, but it also varies by students’ basic needs security status. This suggests that students facing the dual challenges of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems may have exhausted this important social resource.