Staying on Track: Early Findings from a Performance-Based Scholarship Program at the University of New Mexico

Although a growing number of individuals are enrolling in college in response to the increasing payoff to higher education, more than a third of them never finish. College completion rates are especially disappointing for low-income students, in many cases because they tend to enter college underprepared academically but also because they have more difficulty covering the costs of attendance. This report presents early results from a program at the University of New Mexico (UNM) that increases the financial support available to low-income entering students who enroll for a minimum number of credits and maintain a minimum grade point average. The program, called VISTA (Vision Inspired Scholarship Through Academic Achievement), is one of nine scholarship programs being tested across the country as part of the national Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration. The demonstration is testing several types of performance-based scholarships in order to identify promising strategies to increase college persistence and completion among low-income students. Early findings, through one year, indicate that although VISTA had no effects on credits or grades during the first semester, effects did emerge after that point: (1) VISTA encouraged students to attempt and earn more credits; (2) VISTA led to a net increase in financial aid dollars and allowed some students to reduce their reliance on loans; and (3) Although VISTA did not affect overall enrollment rates for the third semester, it did result in students registering for more credits. A final report on VISTA will be published in 2014. Selected characteristics of sample members at Baseline, by Research Group are appended. (Contains 9 tables, 1 box and 28 footnotes.)