Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate, 2017-2019 Meredith S. Billings is currently assistant professor of educational leadership at Sam Houston State University. Billings was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute, 2017-2019. She completed her Ph.D. at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. Her dissertation research was on nine promise programs in Michigan, which offer free or discounted tuition and fees to all eligible students within specific geographic locations. Using a quasi-experimental research design, Meredith evaluated the effect of promise scholarship eligibility on college enrollment, choice, persistence, and degree completion. Meredith’s overall research agenda focuses on college affordability, state financial aid policies, and degree completion initiatives. She has completed prior research on the evaluation of a broad-based merit aid program in Michigan called the Michigan Promise Scholarship with Susan Dynarski and Brian Jacobs and worked on a state-wide random control trial for a dual-credit mathematics course in Tennessee with Susan Dynarski, Steven Hemelt, and Nicole Ross. Her next research project focuses on examining promise program recipients in Michigan community colleges and universities. Prior to attending her doctoral program, Meredith was an institutional researcher at Tufts University. She has a M.A. in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and B.S. in neuroscience from the College of William and Mary. Education Education: Ph.D., Higher Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor M.A., Higher Education, University of Maryland, College Park B.S., Neuroscience, College of William and Mary
