What Were the Reach and Impact of the Oregon Promise Financial Aid Program in Its First Two Years? REL 2022-119 [QED]
Hodara, Michelle; Childress, Leah (2021). Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED615645
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examining68,713Students, grades12-PS
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2023
- Single Study Review (findings for Oregon Promise)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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College enrollment within 6 months, dependent on high school graduation |
Oregon Promise vs. Business as usual |
6 Months |
Full sample - All public high school graduates in Oregon;
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82.33 |
46.42 |
Yes |
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|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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College enrollment within 2 years of graduation |
Oregon Promise vs. Business as usual |
24 Months |
Full sample - All public high school graduates in Oregon;
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86.38 |
54.57 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
College persistence, 1 year |
Oregon Promise vs. Business as usual |
6 Months |
Full sample - All public high school graduates in Oregon;
|
71.45 |
48.80 |
Yes |
|
|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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8% English language learners -
Female: 58%
Male: 43% -
Rural, Suburban, Town, Urban
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Oregon
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Race Asian 4% Black 2% Native American 2% Other or unknown 24% Pacific Islander 1% Two or more races 4% White 64% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 24% Not Hispanic or Latino 77% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 70% No FRPL 30%
Study Details
Setting
The Oregon Opportunity Grant is the state's longest-running need-based grant program for students from the lowest-income households in the state. This review focused on a sample of students who were seniors in the 2015/16 school year, applied for Oregon Promise in 2015/16, and attended schools in any public school district in Oregon (n=68,713). The study findings are supplemental to the RDD main findings reported in the same manuscript.
Study sample
The majority of the sample was female (58%), eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (70%), and White (64%). Close to one-fourth were Latinx (24%). Sixteen percent received special education services, while 8 percent were English Learners. Asian, Black, Native American, and Pacific Islander students were a small sample percentage at four, two, two, and one percent, respectively.
Intervention Group
In the 2015/2016 school year, Oregon Public high school seniors could apply for an Oregon Promise Scholarship. The application process required 1) submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or Oregon Student Aid Application (ORSAA), and 2) listing on either application at least one community college they planned to attend. Applicants meeting the following eligibility requirements were offered an Oregon Promise award: 1) achieved an unweighted cumulative high school GPA of 2.5 or higher (GED recipients had to achieve a test score of 145 or higher), 2) lived in Oregon for at least 12 months before community college enrollment, and 3) had a valid FAFSA or ORSAA. Eligible applicants offered an award were required to use it to attend an Oregon community college within 6 months of high school completion. Students who re-enrolled in college for a second year were eligible for additional funding.
Comparison Group
The 2015/16 high school seniors in Oregon public schools in the matched comparison group were likely eligible for the Promise scholarship if they had applied to the program. Although they did not apply, these non-applicants had demographic, academic, and socio-economic characteristics similar to the 2015/16 high school seniors that applied and were offered the program.
Support for implementation
The Office of Student Access and Completion (OSAC) at Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) administered the scholarship program when the study was conducted. Representatives from HECC, and Oregon education stakeholders from K–12 state and local education agencies, collaborated with the Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest to plan the study and provide access to its data.
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The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
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Study findings for this report.
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