Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars (FFWS) on employment and earnings. This profile focuses on the outcomes for students enrolled in two-year colleges. The authors investigated similar research questions for another contrast, the profile of which can be found here.
- The study was a nonexperimental design that used administrative data from a previous randomized controlled trial. The authors conducted statistical analyses to compare the outcomes of the treatment and comparison groups.
- The study found that receipt of the FFWS was significantly related to increased earnings for students who attended technical college and decreased earnings for students who attended a University of Wisconsin System two-year college.
- This study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Fund for Wisconsin Scholar; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Fund for Wisconsin Scholar
Features of the Intervention
Established in 2007, the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars (FFWS) aims to increase postsecondary persistence and attainment in Wisconsin through need-based financial aid. The Wisconsin Higher Educational Aid Board (HAEB) randomly assigns eligible students, from a list provided by Wisconsin organizations, to receive a grant from the FFWS. The randomly selected students must sign and return the award letter to the FFWS to receive the funding. The FFWS targeted economically disadvantaged students attending public institutions of higher education in Wisconsin. A student was eligible for the grant if they a) graduated from a public high school in Wisconsin; b) are 21 years old or younger; c) pursuing a first degree at a University of Wisconsin System (UWS) four-year university, two-year college, or Technical College System colleges; and d) were eligible to for a Pell Grant. Students at two-year schools can receive up to $1,800 per year. The award is renewable for up to ten semesters and to maintain full eligibility for the grant, students in two-year schools had to transfer to a four-year school.
Features of the Study
This study was a nonexperimental design that used administrative data from a previous randomized controlled trial. Students at thirteen two-year college campuses within the University of Wisconsin System and 16 Wisconsin Technical College System college campuses participated in the original RCT study. The authors used five administrative datasets that contained annual information on all students eligible for the FFWS grant beginning with the 2009-2010 academic year. The study includes data from eight cohorts and were obtained from the HAEB, National Student Clearinghouse, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, University of Wisconsin System administration records, the Unemployment Insurance database maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and the Client Assistance for Re-employment and Economic Support database accessed through the Multi-Sample Person File maintained by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The authors used statistical analyses to compare the outcomes of treatment and comparison groups.
Findings
Employment
- The study found no statistically significant relationships between the FFWS grant and employment.
Earnings and wages
- The study found that there was a significant positive relationship between receiving the FFWS grant and earnings for technical college students, with annual earnings of FFWS grant recipients increasing by $879 in the sixth year after receiving the grant offer compared to the comparison group.
- However, the study found that there was a significant negative relationship between receiving the FFWS grant and earnings for University of Wisconsin System two-year college students, with annual earnings of FFWS grant recipients decreasing by $470 in the second year after receiving the grant offer and by $2,532 in the eighth year.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Although the study authors account for gender, race/ethnicity, and low-income status, they do not account for age as required by the protocol. Additionally, the baseline differences between the groups were significantly different for gender and not controlled for in the statistical analyses. Therefore, this study is not eligible for a moderate evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of the causal evidence presented in this study is low, because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Wisconsin Fund for Scholars; other factors are likely to have contributed.