Fourteen Year Gains: Project QUEST's Remarkable Impact

This study details how Project QUEST participants earned $54,000 more than the control group during the 14-year follow-up period.

[excerpt] Project QUEST and the community colleges invested an average of $16,244 (2022 dollars) in each participant over the fourteen years following study enrollment, resulting in a 234 percent return on investment. Moreover, program graduates moved out of poverty and into the middle class, earning close to $60,000, on average, in the final year of the study. Participants ages 35 and older at the time of enrollment experienced the greatest benefit from Project QUEST, earning a remarkable $138,577 more, on average, than their counterparts in the control group over the fourteen years.