Studying Heterogeneity in the Impact of Merit Aid Receipt and Loss on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes

With the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), the work explores how the state’s merit aid program, HOPE, affects student outcomes and how those effects might differ across racially marginalized, low-income, and economically distressed backgrounds. The state has emphasized these focal populations in its recent Master Plan for Postsecondary Education, and this work will aid in addressing gaps in access, completion, and labor market outcomes. The project will respond to the following questions: • Does HOPE receipt and retention affect the choice of college, college attainment, and completion of scholarship recipients? Do the effects differ among our focal populations? • Does HOPE receipt and retention affect the earnings and employment status of scholarship recipients? Do the effects differ among our focal populations? • To what extent do HOPE receipt’s proximal effects (e.g., college choice, completion) mediate the distal effects on earnings and employment status? Does mediation differ among our focal populations?