What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

When Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana realized most of the clients in its job-training program lacked a high school diploma, it set out to address the issue.

In 2010, with the help of per-pupil funding from the state, the nonprofit opened The Excel Center, a tuition-free high school tailored for adults. The charter school offered flexible schedules, free on-site child care, transportation assistance and a life coach. Thirteen years later, research by my team at the University of Notre Dame's Lab for Economic Opportunities shows that The Excel Center is a success.

Indiana graduates of the program, which has now expanded to 10 other states and the District of Columbia, were able to find better jobs and earn substantially more over their lifetimes than their peers who did not graduate from the program.

At the Lab for Economic Opportunities—or LEO—I worked with colleagues Rebecca Brough and David Phillips to measure the economic return of graduating from The Excel Center. We found that graduates of The Excel Center experience a nearly 40% increase in earnings five years after applying—or roughly US$80,000 more in their pockets over their lifetimes—than similarly situated adults who applied but did not enroll. The LEO team did not receive any funding from The Excel Center or Goodwill in its research, although Goodwill provided assistance with data.

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