State policies to promote postsecondary education historically have been devoted to funding and operating public colleges and universities. Increasingly, states are funding direct aid to their residents to attend public and private colleges within state borders. The majority of state aid is targeted based on the student's family income. States are motivated to help their lowest-income residents graduate at higher rates, because degrees serve as pathways to long-term financial gain, career satisfaction, better health, lower rates of crime, and other positive outcomes. Yet, despite access to grant aid and open admissions to public colleges, students from lower-income backgrounds are far less likely than their higher-income peers to enroll in and graduate from college. What can state aid programs do to assure that more low-income students finish degrees? The RAND Corporation's Education and Labor division recently published a report that uses Wisconsin's state student aid policy as a case study to examine the design, implementation, and evidence base of state need-based aid. [This brief describes research documented in "Need-Based Financial Aid in Wisconsin: State Policy and Student Pathways. Research Report. RR-3057-GLHEC" (ED605976).]