Local-level, place-based scholarships -- synonymous with "promise" scholarships -- are a policy strategy to improve college completion in the United States by directing financial aid to students in a particular school, district, or geographical area. There are currently upwards of 90 place-based scholarship programs across the US, most…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its ninth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2018.

The Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) is beginning its tenth year rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs in Alaska. This report covers the high school, postsecondary, Alaska residency, and workforce outcomes of the APS program between 2011-Fall 2019. [For…

We argue that place-based college scholarships, if designed intentionally and leveraged effectively, can foster local economic development. Since the introduction of the Kalamazoo Promise in 2005, a growing number of communities have applied the place-based approach to investments in human capital through the creation of college scholarship…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship is beginning its eighth year, rewarding students who strive to excel in high school and continue their education in degree and certificate programs. Since the program began in 2011: (1) 17,148 high school students have completed the eligibility requirements for APS; and (2) 7,630 students have used the…

Introduced this year, "How America Pays for Graduate School" is a national study by Sallie Mae, conducted by Ipsos. This new study is designed to complement Sallie Mae's "How America Pays for College" report, which, for the last 10 years, has provided insights into how American families plan and pay for college, with a focus on…

Recent federal and state education policy has targeted community colleges as an affordable venue to increase postsecondary attainment. We examined a state program aimed at increasing community college enrollment, the Missouri A+ Schools Program, which provided eligible graduates from participating high schools the opportunity to earn a scholarship…

The 2014 Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS) Outcomes Report analyzes the characteristics of high school graduates, those who were eligible to receive the scholarship, and those who went on to make use of it during the three years of the scholarship's existence. The analysis includes their geographic, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic…

Five years ago Alaska's high school graduating class of 2011 became the first with the opportunity to accept the state's "invitation to excellence," the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS), to pursue their postsecondary studies. Eligible graduates could receive up to $4,755 per year for up to four years to study at a participating…

The Alaska Performance Scholarship was established in state law in 2011 and first offered to Alaska high school graduates beginning with the class of 2011. Described as "an invitation to excellence" to Alaska's high school students, its goal was to inspire students to push themselves academically in areas that correlate to success in…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for high-achieving, low-income African American students, and to understand the effect of the Gates Millennium Scholarship on their college choice. Drawing from the Gates Millennium Scholar Tracking Database, a College Choice Survey, and the Integrated…

The driving force behind the recent increase in financial aid for college education is the rapid growth of state merit-based grant programs that provide scholarships to students who meet predefined standards of academic preparation at the state level, and this trend represents one of the most pronounced policy shifts away from a long tradition of…

When North Carolina native Evan Raleigh was in search of the perfect college, he had three things in mind: (1) the strength of the school's academic reputation; (2) the size of the school; and (3) the school's location and proximity to home. He found all three in the form of Wake Forest University. But Raleigh, who received a full academic…

The New York State program of student financial assistance is broad and comprehensive, comprising an extensive network of low-tuition public colleges, scholarships for outstanding high school graduates, tuition assistance grants for use at public and independent colleges, and guaranteed loans to college students. The present scholarship and…

The college selection process is a learning experience and a stressful time. One high achieving student describes being recruited by colleges with the promise of scholarships. She recounts the process of choosing the right school, realizing along the way that her college years could not only determine her occupation, but where she might live, and…