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Benjamin Castleman

Benjamin Castleman

Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy
Education & Training
Ed.D., Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2013
A.B. Honors, Environmental Studies, Brown University, 2000
Courses taught
Education Policy
Areas of focus
Education
UVA partners
EdPolicyWorks: Center for Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness
Curry School of Education

Ben Castleman is an Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Ben’s research focuses on policies to improve college access and success for low-income students. Several of his papers examine innovative strategies to deliver high-quality information about the college-going process to low-income students and their families, and to ease the process of students and families getting professional support when they need assistance. He has conducted several randomized trials to investigate how the offer of additional support during the summer after high school impacts the rate and quality of low-income students’ college enrollment. In addition, Ben uses quasi-experimental methods to study the impact of state and federal need-based grant programs on students’ long-term collegiate outcomes. His research has been featured on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, as well as in Time Magazine, USA Today, and the Huffington Post.

Related Content

Expert Chat: Using Data Science to Address Critical COVID-19 Workforce Needs in Virginia with Ben Castleman and Brian Kim

Event

As cases of COVID-19 continue to spread across Virginia, the need to connect workers to the commonwealth’s critical labor market needs is rising. To help address the problem, Ben Castleman and Brian Kim have created a workforce recruiting dashboard in partnership with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to identify recent VCCS graduates who have the credentials and skill to fill health care labor needs.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Investigating Rates and Patterns of Financial Aid Renewal Among College Freshmen

Research

College affordability continues to be a top concern among prospective students, their families, and policy makers. Prior work has demonstrated that a significant share of prospective students forgo financial aid because they did not complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); recent federal policy efforts have focused on supporting students and their families to successfully file the FAFSA. 

Intensive College Counseling and the Enrollment and Persistence of Low Income Students

Research

Though counseling is one commonly pursued intervention to improve college enrollment and completion for disadvantaged students, there is relatively little causal evidence on its efficacy. We use a regression discontinuity design to study the impact of intensive college counseling provided to college-seeking, low income students by a Massachusetts program that admits applicants partly on the basis of a minimum GPA requirement.

Freshman year financial aid nudges: An experiment to increase FAFSA renewal and college persistence

Research

In this paper we investigate, through a randomized controlled trial design, the impact of a personalized text messaging intervention designed to encourage college freshmen to refile their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and maintain their financial aid for sophomore year. The intervention produced large and positive effects among freshmen at community colleges where text recipients were almost 14 percentage points more likely to remain continuously enrolled through the Spring of sophomore year.
Decision Making for Student Success: Behavioral Insights to Improve College Access and Persistence

Decision Making for Student Success: Behavioral Insights to Improve College Access and Persistence

Research

Scholars from the fields of behavioral economics, education, and public policy explore contemporary research on decision-making and highlight behavioral insights that can improve postsecondary access and success. Written in collaboration with Saul Schwartz, Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, Canada and Sandy Baum, Research Professor of Education Policy at George Washington University and a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, USA.
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