Our Team

Rajeev Darolia is currently on leave from the PEER Project and the University of Kentucky, where he is the Wendell H. Ford Professor of Public Policy and a Professor of Public Policy and Economics. Dr. Darolia is also the Associate Director of the UK Center for Poverty Research and Associate Dean of the Graduate School. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, and a 2018 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. He serves as an Associate Editor for the Review of Higher Education and is on the editorial boards of Education Finance and Policy, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Higher Education, and Educational Researcher.

Dr. Darolia's research interests include questions about how public policy affects economic mobility and financial security, especially related to education policy. Dr. Darolia publishes research across public policy, economics, and education journals, including in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Journal of Public Economics, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, the US Department of Labor, and the Association for Institutional Research.

Professor Darolia teaches classes in causal research methods and program evaluation. He routinely advises nonprofit organizations and federal, state, and local policymakers on regulatory, research, and policy topics.

Dr. Darolia received a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration from George Washington University where he was recognized with the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Association for Education Finance and Policy. He also holds a master's degree in economics and a bachelor's degree in finance.