The effect of state funded merit aid for college tuition on student performance in high school has been largely ignored by the current literature on merit aid programs, even though one aim of these programs is to provide incentives for increased academic achievement in high school. To test for such effects, we employ a selection model for…

In this brief, the authors review some of the main goals of state student financial aid programs and provide a few examples of how these programs are organized. They also describe how state programs vary in terms of who benefits. They then discuss various possible designs for joint federal-state policymaking in this area and study their impact.…