Evaluation of targeted outreach to promote CalFresh participation among low-income students

As of January 2021, eligibility for CalFresh (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in California) has been temporarily expanded to include students with zero Expected Family Contribution (EFC) or who are eligible for Work Study. To notify zero EFC students of this expansion and encourage CalFresh participation, CSAC is sending emails to the 285,731 zero EFC students in California from February 8th, 2021; the higher education segments are separately notifying the (partially overlapping) group of students who are eligible based on their Work Study status. This study will evaluate the impact of the zero EFC notifications on CalFresh participation. The primary research question is: Does outreach to college students with zero EFC induce them to apply for and enroll in CalFresh? Our main analysis will use random variation in the timing of the notification emails, and will explore whether people who receive earlier emails register sooner for CalFresh. A secondary analysis will use a regression discontinuity design, comparing students who just qualify for the zero EFC expansion with similar students who just miss qualifying. We will use each design to measure impacts on CalFresh application and enrollment. If we find that there are substantial impacts, we will also use the same designs to examine impacts on college enrollment the following term, and potentially on longer-term student outcomes.