Comments on The Real Costs of Merit Aid

• Policy Prescriptions
• Posted by Michael on July 31, 2009 at 8:30am EDT

• I would be curious to hear readers' or the author's ideas for policy implications of such findings, particularly in regard to the private schools she studies.

• Right measure, wrong attribution
• Posted by Jon Boeckenstedt , Enrollment Management at DePaul University on July 31, 2009 at 9:00am EDT

• It is not the merit aid policy itself that causes this effect; it is the policy that causes institutions to pursue the merit aid policies that cause this effect. When you measure your worth and effectiveness as an institution by a single input factor (standardized test scores), you are going to select and reward those who have higher test scores. And when you select higher test scores, you select--as a consequence--students with higher incomes, who are less likely to be minority students.

  Two of my colleagues and I did a presentation at a College Board Forum in San Diego several years ago, in which we demonstrated how our institution used merit aid strategies, coupled with several other strategic approaches including relatively moderate tuition, to increase or maintain the number of first-generation, low-income, and minority students at our university. Mr. Jaschik was in the first row.

  We believe we could not effect this outcome without a merit-aid policy. And if you look at comparative IPEDS data, you'll find there are very few institutions who come close to what we do in the enrollment and graduation of low-income and minority students. And it's partially because we use the tool of merit aid to direct outcomes in the right direction.

  Clearly, there are institutions that use merit aid solely in pursuit of self-serving agendas; but if you're going to address a problem, it's probably best to look at the proximate, and not just the immediate, causes of that problem.

• Merit Aid--what are the academic outcomes?
• Posted by Sheldon on July 31, 2009 at 9:00am EDT

• Interesting story. So what about retention and graduation rate changes (or their absence) over the study period reported on in the article?

• Comparisons
• Posted by Mythbuster on July 31, 2009 at 9:15am EDT

• What's happening at similar schools not offering merit aid during this time period?

• Puzzled
• Posted by Jim on July 31, 2009 at 10:00am EDT

• This study strikes me as almost tautological. For example, "Three to five years after colleges start offering merit aid, the percentage of Pell Grant recipients starts to drop at middle and top tier colleges (as measured by selectivity, using SAT scores as a proxy.)" Does this mean that the researchers never actually measured the number of Pell Grant recipients, but just assumed that the school's weakest students were Pell Grant recipients? Since schools offer merit aid to get better students, it is hardly surprising that their SAT averages would increase. But it is unclear what that fact has to do, if anything, with Pell Grant numbers.

  Also, the purported decrease in Pell Grant recipients seems statistically insignificant (only two percent in ten years), and hardly justifiies the authors' conclusions that “It is worrisome, given the already low levels of representation of low-income and minority students at four-year colleges, to find that the introduction of a merit aid policy is associated with a decrease in the percentage of low-income and black students." On the face of it, a more reasonable conclusion would be that "merit aid policies have a small, perhaps insignificant impact on the percentage of low-income and black students."

  However, to me the story is most off base when it dismisses as a "modest gain" the finding that merit aid leads to an increase of "22 SAT points a few years out, which increases to 35 SAT points 10 years out." On the contrary, any institution that sees a 35 point increase in its average SAT scores has experienced a huge increase.

  So, even if one assumes the validity of the methodology, the real story here would appear to be that merit aid results in a large increase in student quality, as measured by SAT scores, with a small-to-negligible impact on minority enrollments and Pell-Grant recipients.

• Posted by Goethe on July 31, 2009 at 10:15am EDT

• It would be interested to see a study of institutions that have instituted seperate efforts for both merit and need -- knowing that the two are not mutually exclusive. Do places like this maintain, decrease, or gain in their racial and income diversity and/or in their standardized test score outcomes?

• Posted by Bob at State U. on July 31, 2009 at 11:45am EDT

• Well what's wrong with the idea of merit aid, the idea of rewarding, well, merit? In the heavily coded world of higher ed, the word merit, I suppose, means rich privileged kids who don't even need the money gaming the system to look good, and greedy institutions throwing money at them so that they look good too, with this code so ingrained that everyone can attack the idea of merit aid with a (figuratively) straight face. But maybe merit sometimes means just that, kids working hard to excel in a straightforward, honest way, with the hope that they, and their parents, can afford higher education without drowning in an ocean of debt, and wiping out life savings. I would hate to see that idea disappear.

• re: Jim
• Posted by Joe Austin on July 31, 2009 at 11:45am EDT

• Jim,
  I believe the parenthetical note, "as measured by selectivity, using SAT scores as a proxy," refers to the classification of colleges as bottom, middle, and top tier, rather than to Pell Grant recipients.

• Posted by Shirley at University of Texas at San Antonio on July 31, 2009 at 12:15pm EDT

• As a person "of color", I've grown intolerant to studies and the flood articles associating low-income and skin color as clichés for the low

  representation by minorities regarding college, merit aid, financial ai, etc. The studies and articles only perpetuate what seems to be an

  ingrained notion that if you are black, hispanic and poor, you will always have a disadvantage or you are just plain dumb. The solution is

  changing the mindset of cultures who for decades, have been led to believe they are inferior, cannot excel or compete because of their race

  or income status.

• Now, not so puzzled
• Posted by Jim on July 31, 2009 at 12:15pm EDT

• In rereading the story, I realize my first paragraph in the second comment, above, is probably wrong (to conclude that the researchers used SAT scores as a proxy for Pell Grant numbers). Although the relevant sentence in the article can be read that way, it is more likely that SAT scores were used as a proxy for highly selective schools, and not for Pell Grant numbers. If so, then one can safely assume the researchers did measure Pell recipients directly. My apologies.

• The Need for Better Data
• Posted by Daniel L. Bennett at The Center for College Affordability and Productivity on July 31, 2009 at 12:15pm EDT

• Perhaps a more compelling case could be made about the effect of merit aid if data were available to measure the percent admitted by race/ethnicity. It very may well be the case the more minorities were admitted to top schools, but chose to attend elsewhere because they received a better offer, are averse to debt or wanted to stay closer to home. Some students do chose a school based on value and family considerations, not just its ranking.

• Methodology - Conclusion Connection
• Posted by ADD Today , Director or IR & Asmt. on July 31, 2009 at 12:45pm EDT

• Considering highly publicized family income trends for college attendance, I had so many methodology questions (beginning with the use of The College Board population) that would affect interpretation and conclusions that I couldn't finish the article. Congrats to the eight of you :) In all fairness to the researcher, she might have made all of the necessary stipulations in her report.

• Elephant in the room
• Posted by Diana at College Mentors on July 31, 2009 at 1:30pm EDT

• One thing that is generally not discussed when looking at the issue of disparity and the potential untended consequence of losing minority/lower income students as merit aid brings up the average SATs at various schools is how do we address the underlying issue that underrepresented students tend to score lower on these tests--and how do we close the gap? Obviously, this is a complex issue, one that needs to be solved in K-12 education through a variety of means, including fostering a college-going culture, combating peer pressure not to succeed in school, maybe instituting SAT clubs in high schools, where college students volunteer time in the summer to work with students, etc. etc.

  Rather than lower the standards for entrance to a given college or to take merit aid away, let's come together and solve the problems in K-12 so that the numbers of students from underrepresented groups are naturally included in the merit aid!

  One responder mentioned the retention and graduation rates--and to me that's key also. Just upping entrance percentages for any given group of students doesn't serve those students--we need to up retention and graduation rates.

• Posted by jc on July 31, 2009 at 2:15pm EDT

• The study is also very limited if a 10-year look at enrollment of Pell recipients at private schools is being evaluated without considering the percent of Pell grant that covers average selective private school tuition over that 10-year period. It is probable that, more than any impact from merit (or assumed lack of merit to the Pell students), the minimal increases in Pell grant awards in the past 10 years impacted our highest need families from believing they could afford private education. Many of us use merit as an "up front" illustration to families that there are a number of resources available to their talented sons and daughters.

• More bogus framing
• Posted by ACF on July 31, 2009 at 4:45pm EDT

• Once again, the title and tease for this story represents bogus framing. Consider the title:

  "The Real Costs of Merit Aid"

  The title could have easily been "The Real Benefits of Merit Aid"

  Now, consider the tease:

  "New study finds that, 10 years after offering non-need-based assistance, private colleges are likely to enroll fewer Pell Grant recipients and fewer black students."

  The tease could have easily been: "Hot News! Merit-Based Aid Produces More Bright Students! "

  (as has been published here: http://www.discriminations.us/2009/07/hot_news_meritbased_aid_produc.html

  The fact that merit-based aid attracts the best and the brightest is fantastic news for everybody who wants to see the most effective use of resources.

• posh squeeze
• Posted by Rupert Wilkinson on August 3, 2009 at 8:15am EDT

• I agree control groups are needed, two in fact -- colleges already giving merits, and colleges not giving merits -- but one reason why merits seem to reduce low-income student proportions particuarly at more selective colleges is that these colleges are more fully enrolled. The more fully enrolled a college is, the more easily it can reduce its intake of aid-expensive low-income students by admitting more well prepared students who tend to have less financial need. As I argue in my financial-aid history, AIDING STUDENTS, BUYING STUDENTS (Vanderbilt UP), highly selective have recognized that they can actually increase net tuition revenue (revenue after aid costs) by giving merits (if not too big) to middle-class students, displacing some high-need students they would otherwise admit. The more selective colleges are more apt to try to 'meet all 'need,' in some sense, and that requires more of their own need-based aid to bridge the gap between Pell grants etc and their high charges.

  This said, I must respect Jon Boeckenstedt and colleagues' effort at DePaul (comments above) to target merits and other policies in such a way that they do not reduce their intake of lower income students.

  Rupert Wilkinson

• Well Said
• Posted by LA Jerry , NSCS on August 3, 2009 at 9:30am EDT

• Well said ACF.

• Experiment within an experiment.
• Posted by Bob on August 3, 2009 at 3:30pm EDT

• Here is an idea, how about we give the merit aid ONLY to Pell grant recipients and see if that increases the desired target group?

• Protesting too much
• Posted by the watcher on August 7, 2009 at 1:15pm EDT

• Some of the enrollment managers and private college administrators commenting here are protesting just a wee bit too much, aren't they?

• Low income does not mean stupid
• Posted by Cedric Henry , student at SBVC on August 10, 2009 at 8:00pm EDT

• As a low income student who does fairly well in my academic career. I will tell you that one reason why I didn't go to a private institution is because I had to work and support my family right out of high school. Two years later I went to a community college and maintained a 3.00 gpa. This gpa is hardly going to get to into princeton, even if I could do all the princeton work. I the financial need is both a an obstacle that limits early sucess but when that need is met and I am not working 60+ hours I can easily master any courses before me. But that obstacle still presents it'self.