In this study, the authors use college enrollment and migration data to test the brain drain hypothesis. Their results suggest that state merit scholarship programs do indeed stanch the migration of "best and brightest" students to other states. In the aggregate and on average, the implementation of state merit aid programs increases the…

Since the adoption of Georgia's HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) scholarship program, seven additional Southeastern states have adopted similar merit-based financial aid programs, most of which are also funded by state lotteries. This study examines why North Carolina after adopting a state lottery in 2005 did not allocate its…

This study examines the differences in the portfolio of institutional scholarships and the marketing of these awards between flagship campuses with and without state merit aid programs. Using content analysis techniques to analyze institutional websites of the 16 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) flagship campuses, three thematic responses…

Despite the scholarly attention on the effects of merit aid on college access and choice, particularly on the significant effect that states' varied eligibility criteria play, no studies have examined the policy process through which merit aid criteria are determined. This is surprising given the recent attention to state-level policy dynamics and…

This study analyzes the policy process through which two states determined education beneficiary programs of newly adopted state lotteries. Tennessee, in 2003, followed the regional pattern of allocating all lottery proceeds to merit-based college scholarships. North Carolina, in 2005, bucked this trend by allotting no lottery revenue for merit…

As state-level merit-based financial aid programs proliferate, analysts both find that these programs have a disproportionate effect on students traditionally under-represented in postsecondary education and question the use of limited public resources in an inefficient and inequitable manner. This study, using survey data regarding the…

As the nation's newest broad-based merit aid program, the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program's generous eligibility requirements may target the very students who are disproportionately left out of similar programs in other states. This article compares the scholarship eligibility rates of Tennessee students with three other states:…