Performance-Based Scholarships | Completion by Design

Tag: Performance-Based Scholarships

	Title	Value	First Author	Year	Resource Type
Expand	Promoting Full-Time Attendance Among Adults in Community College: Early Impacts from the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration in New York	0	Richburg-Hayes, L.	May 2001
	Through the Opening Doors Demonstration, MDRC found evidence that performance-based scholarships could improve educational outcomes for adult students, leading the organization to initiate a wider evaluation of the potential benefits of supplemental, performance-based financial aid on the persistence and attainment of adult students. The study reported here focused on adult students enrolled in remedial courses in New York City community colleges, with early results showing positive impact on both GPA and credits earned.
Expand	Achieving Ambitious Goals: Case Studies in Scaling-Up Programs for Advancing Low-Skilled Adults	0	Endel, B.	May 2011	Case Study
	In 2009, the Breaking Through initiative awarded grants to five participating schools to help them scale up their efforts in improving career and technical education for low-skilled students. The case studies presented here explore the strategic approaches of each school (e.g., financial incentives, advising and student supports, revised curricular alignment, external workforce partnerships) and the successes and challenges of bringing these efforts to scale.
Expand	Cracking the Credit Hour	0	Laitinen, A.	September 2012	Policy
	According to American employers, our nation’s college graduates are not prepared for the workforce, despite having “served their time” in school. This report describes the history of the “credit hour” and how it has become standard practice for colleges to award degrees based on seat time rather than on learning attained. The author discusses the negative consequences this practice has had on completion rates and student debt. In response, the author recommends how the federal government can use three existing tools that would redefine “credit hours,” award financial aid based on learning and not time, and support innovation and experimentation in this area.
Expand	Statewide Aid Policies to Improve College Access and Success	0	Hashmi, J.	2012	Report
	As funding for financial aid diminishes, states need to leverage their resources to best support student success. Prepared for Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Vision Project, this report examines existing financial aid policies currently in place in various states to improve college access and success. The author categorizes financial aid policies into three distinct models — entitlement programs, programs targeted to low-income students, and programs that reward certain behaviors — and describes them for Massachusetts’ consideration in its desire and effort to improve college success and degree completion through student financial aid reform.
Expand	Rewarding Progress, Reducing Debt: Early Results from the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration in Ohio	0	Cha, P.	2010	Research
	Unlike traditional merit scholarships that reward students for past academic successes, performance-based scholarships provide financial aid on the contingency of the student maintaining satisfactory grades after receiving the award. Using existing data from three community colleges in Ohio, this paper looks at the effectiveness of using this type of financial aid as an incentive for low-income students without a strong academic history.
Expand	Paying for Persistence: Early Results of a Louisiana Scholarship Program for Low-Income Parents Attending Community College	0	Brock, T.	2006	Research
	Designed to bridge the gap between available financial aid and actual education costs and to provide financial incentive for academic achievement, Louisiana’s Opening Doors program awards performance-based scholarships to low-income students. These awards are supplemental to traditional forms of financial aid and contingent on the student maintaining a 2.0 GPA for the semester the award is granted. This evaluation reports out on early outcomes of the program, comparing the progress and performance of qualifying students who were randomly assigned to receive Opening Doors scholarships and counseling against those receiving only traditional financial aid and counseling.
Expand	Rewarding Persistence: Effects of a Performance-Based Scholarship Program for Low-Income Parents	0	Richburg-Hayes, L.	2009	Research
	MDRC’s Opening Doors tested the impact of four academic interventions, operating individually and in combination. This report evaluates the performance-based scholarships implemented in two Louisiana community colleges. These scholarships—up to $1,000 in addition to other available aid disbursed in three payments throughout the semester—were offered to low-income parents on the condition that they maintain an average of “C” or better. The follow-up period was cut short due to the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the area, limiting the available findings, but initial results showed increased rates of registration, persistence, and credit earned for program participants.