Grants Correlated with More Student Persistence

August 1, 2011

For the last three years, Sara Goldrick-Rab and Douglas Harris tracked a group of students who received grant money from the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars program, which provides a $3,500-a-year grant to some first-time, full-time students enrolled in the University of Wisconsin System. They found that the most disadvantaged group of students were more likely to stay in college if they received the Morgridge grant, compared to those who did not. For those receiving a grant, the chance of their persisting jumped from 55 to 72 percent. The money did not appear to have as much of an effect on students who entered college with a higher probability of succeeding—those with higher test scores and parents with bachelor’s degrees.  More information is available here.