A Brookings Institution study finds that better financial aid or waiving tuition at four-year public colleges with an income cutoff can effectively increase the rates of students earning bachelor’s degrees. However, it also finds that free community college programs are significantly less effective and can even backfire. While eliminating community college tuition and fees does lead to more associate’s degrees, some students who otherwise would have started at a four-year school instead are drawn to the community college and never earn a bachelor’s degree, the study finds. Besides, most free community college policies exclude students from the lowest-income families since these students already receive federal Pell Grants that cover most, if not all, of the tuition cost for community college.