Paying for Persistence: The Louisiana Opening Doors Project

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Paying for Persistence The Louisiana Opening
Doors Project
Lashawn Richburg-Hayes
Student Financial Aid Network Conference
(SFARN) 25th Annual Conference Baltimore,
MD June 13, 2008
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The Louisiana Opening Doors Demonstration

• TANF Surplus used to fund scholarships and
  support services for low-income parents (not just
  welfare recipients)
• Administered through the Louisiana Workforce
  Commission and Community and Technical College
  System
• Two colleges selected as test sites
• Delgado Community College
• Louisiana Technical College-West Jefferson
• Demonstration ran from 2003-2005

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Program Details

• Scholarship tied to academic performance
• 1,000 on top of regular financial aid for two
  semesters, paid in increments
• 250 on enrollment
• 250 on passing midterms
• 500 on passing courses
• Opening Doors counselors monitor academic
  performance and disburse payments to students
• Counselors maintain caseloads of 125 students

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Characteristics of Opening Doors Sample (n
1,019)

• 93 percent female
• Average age 25
• 85 percent black, 11 percent white
• 75 percent unmarried, not living with partner
• Half have one child, half have two or more
  children

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Effect of Hurricane Katrina
Cohort 4
1st semester
2nd semester
Cohort 3
Cohort 2
Cohort 1
Spring 2004
Summer 2004
Fall 2004
Spring 2005
Summer 2005
Fall 2005
Spring 2006
Summer 2006
Fall 2006
Spring 2006
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Effect on registration by cohort
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Selected Findings for First two Semesters (n
1,019)

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Selected Findings for First two Cohorts (n
537)

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Registration by Cohort
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Other Findings

• 90 received at least one scholarship payment lt
  33 received the full 2,000
• Program group members more likely to report
  having support at the college
• Program positively effected self-esteem and
  overall sense of self. Intervention appears to
  have engendered a greater sense of perceived
  social support

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Conclusions

• Scholarship based on academic performance is
  workable and seems to lead to large, positive
  effects
• Academic achievement
• Retention in college
• Katrina may have compromised the study, but
  results from different samples seem similar

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Future Work

• MDRC and partners have found and surveyed 77 of
  the sample
• Will continue to track employment and other
  outcomes
• Replication of incentive scholarship
• National demonstration similar to learning
  communities demonstration
• 8-10 colleges, different program models,
  different target groups
• Early impact findings available by 2010

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Contact information

• Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, Ph.D.
• rhayes_at_mdrc.org
• 212-340-7598
• www.mdrc.org