Author: Judith E. Scott-Clayton

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13:

We use financial aid application data to show that complexity contributes little to the targeting of aid, despite evidence that its administrative and psychological costs are substantial. In the final essay, I examine the impact of the PROMISE scholarship in West Virginia, which provides financial incentives for college student performance. The program could work either by relaxing financial constraints or by inducing additional student effort. Using administrative data, I exploit discontinuities in both the eligibility formula and the timing of implementation to identify program effects. I find significant impacts on key outcomes including graduation. The concentration of impacts at the precise thresholds for annual scholarship renewal suggests that the program works by establishing clear academic goals and incentives to meet them, rather than by simply reducing the cost of college.