Books, Articles, and Reports

Perna, L.W. (2025). College promise programs in the Midwest: Insights for higher education leaders. Midwestern Higher Education Compact.

Perna, L.W. (2021, July 20). CoPro 2.20 Strategy memo. Kresge Foundation. https://kresge.org/resource/copro2-0-stategy-memo/

Perna, L.W., Wright-Kim, J., & Leigh, E. (2021). Will college promise programs improve or reduce equity? Understanding the contextual conditions that influence implementation. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(26). This article is part of the special issue, Policy Implementation as an Instrument to Achieve Educational Equity in the Community College Context, guest edited by Eric R. Felix, H. Kenny Nienhusser, Ángel Gonzalez, Luz Burgos-López. https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/5436/2594

Perna, L.W., Wright-Kim, J., & Leigh, E. (2020, December). Recognizing the implications of promise program design for equity and efficiency. College Promise, Policy Brief.

Perna, L. W., Wright-Kim, J., & Leigh, E. (2020). Is a College Promise Program an Effective Use of Resources? Understanding the Implications of Program Design and Resource Investments for Equity and Efficiency. AERA Open. 

Perna, L.W., & Smith, E. (Eds., 2020). Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Rauner, M., Perna, L.W., & Kanter, M. (2018, November). California college promise: Program characteristics and perceptions from the field. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.

Perna, L.W., & Leigh, E. (2018). Understanding the promise: A typology of state and local college promise programs.Educational Researcher. Online first: 

Perna, L.W., Leigh, E., & Carroll, S. (2017). “Free college:” A new and improved state approach to increasing educational attainment? American Behavioral Scientist, 61, 1740-1757. 

Blog Posts

It’s Time for Free Community College: Here Are 5 Reasons Why - The 74, June 21, 2021

Free college programs can enable more students to go to college, but it all depends on how the program is designed - The Conversation, April 5, 2021

Free College: A promising innovation for promoting educational attainment? - The Biden Challenge, September 28, 2018

Can college ‘promise’ programs deliver? - The Conversation, December 12, 2017

College Promise Programs: Designing Programs to Achieve the Promise - Higher Ed Today, February 13, 2017

Media Mentions

Kenney calls for tuition-free community college in Philadelphia, but details remain vague - The Philadelphia Tribune, January 18, 2020

5 tips for reporting on ‘free college’ and ‘college promise’ programs - Journalist's Resource, October 7, 2019

Go to college for free — yes, free — at these Pa. and N.J. schools - The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 15, 2019

Popular “free college” programs yield mixed results - The Hechinger Report, October 1, 2018

If 'Free College' Sounds Too Good To Be True, That's Because It Often Is- National Public Radio, September 12, 2018

Keep the College Promise- U.S. News and World Report, October 17, 2017

Here’s a Map of ‘Free College’ Programs Nationwide- Chronicle of Higher Education, March 29, 2017

Free college didn’t die with the Clinton campaign. It’s just getting started- The Hechinger Report, March 23, 2017

Replicating the Tennessee Promise - Inside Higher Ed, March 2, 2017

Tennessee Promise inspires national trend - Tennessean, February 10, 2017

U Penn Launches College Promise Online Database - Campus Technology, October 31, 2016

New College Promise Database - Inside Higher Ed, October 25, 2016

Will LeBron James’ Assist Actually Get Disadvantaged Youth Through College? - Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 19, 2016