Our Team

Veronica Minaya is a Senior Research Associate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. At CCRC, Dr. Minaya is studying the effects of different college acceleration strategies on college academic outcomes using administrative data. She has previously conducted quantitative research estimating the impact of the Federal Work-Study program on student outcomes, as well as measuring the performance of higher education institutions. She has also studied labor market returns to detailed educational paths.

Dr. Minaya holds a PhD in economics and education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds an MA in public administration and international development from Harvard University and a BA in economics from Universidad del Pacifico of Peru. Her dissertation included three studies in which she applied quantitative methods to current issues in financial aid and college major choices with a particular focus on the effects of institutional grading policies on underrepresented minorities.

Prior to joining CCRC, Dr. Minaya worked as a consultant for the World Bank, where she was involved in several impact evaluation studies in education and rural development, in the design and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system of two education programs in Afghanistan, and in the preliminary research phase for academic resilience and strengthening and building education systems in conflict-affected countries.

Dr. Minaya’s primary research fields are economics of higher education and labor economics; secondary fields include public finance, program evaluation, and education policy.