Is traditional financial aid too little, too late to help youth succeed in college? An introduction to The Degree Project promise scholarship experiment

Abstract

One of the key barriers in accessing postsecondary opportunities for many students is financial aid. This chapter begins by providing a review of prior evidence on the relationship between financial aid and postsecondary outcomes. One type of financial aid intervention that challenges traditional aid and scholarship options are "promise programs." These programs make commitments to low-income students when they are much younger than when students typically apply for aid and have the potential to encourage students to better prepare during high school, develop the social capital they need to navigate the path to college, and pay for growing college costs. In this chapter, the author describes the design and rationale for The Degree Project (TDP), which is the first randomized trial of a promise scholarship in the United States. In addition to the important new evidence the demonstration program will generate, TDP also shows how educators and researchers can work together to provide the insight and answers policy makers need to address very real education gaps.