Filling the Financial Aid Gap: The Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration

• In Event: Does Money Matter? The Impact of Financial Aid on Student Success

Abstract

Increasing postsecondary academic success is a national imperative. While access to college has increased, more work is necessary to boost rates of degree completion. Innovative changes in financial aid may be one solution. This paper provides early results from MDRC’s Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration. This multi-state, multi-design study was designed to help low-income students cover expenses and provide a financial incentive to make good progress. The scholarships were need-based grants contingent upon meeting performance benchmarks. The evaluation employs a random assignment design. This paper will provide impacts across all sites to date, on an array of measures including persistence, credits attempted and earned, and financial aid. Early findings suggest that the scholarship can have a positive effect on students’ academic achievement.

Authors

• Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, MDRC

• Reshma Patel, MDRC