The Effect of a Community College Promise Scholarship on Access and Success

Abstract

Based on a mixed methods case study design, the current study reports on a Promise Scholarship program offered by a community college and its affiliated foundation to graduating students at a nearby high school located in a low-income neighborhood of a large city and with a high proportion of African American and other students of color. Using a mix of government and private funding, all graduating students, regardless of financial need or academic achievement, were offered free tuition at the community college for one year. The promise of a scholarship plus an intensive outreach effort resulted in the majority of graduating seniors submitting scholarship applications and a four-fold increase in the proportion of graduates from the high school who subsequently matriculated at the community college. Once at college, the student recipients demonstrated a high rate of quarter-to-quarter retention. However, few placed into college-level courses in English and math, and their academic progress at the end of the first year was modest.