The Impact of 15 to Finish Initiative on Low-Income, First-Generation Students' Retention and Completion in Indiana

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding College Outcomes

Abstract

This study examines what effect a statewide financial aid policy has on the academic outcomes of promise program recipients at two 4-year public research university in Indiana. The study examines the implementation of and subsequent policy change to the early-commitment college promise program, Indiana Twenty-First Century Scholarship (TFCS) Program. Using administrative data of 64,031 low-income, first-generation students, this longitudinal study employs a quasi-experimental, difference-in-differences (DiD) testing to explore the impact of 15 to Finish initiative on the academic performance of Indiana TFCS recipients, compared to non-TFCS Pell recipients from the Fall 2011 cohorts through the Fall 2015 cohorts. Finding suggests that the 30-credit hour completion policy had no effect in residential campuses but a significant effect in non-residential campuses.

Author

• Roy Y. Chan, Lee University