Performance-based scholarships

Program basics

Provide financial aid to students conditional on their achieving certain academic benchmarks
Aid money is meant to cover 15–25 percent of students’ unmet financial need (the difference between their tuition costs and already existing financial aid).
Disbursed to students, who can freely decide how to use the funds

Students enrolled in post-secondary education

$1,000 to $4,500 maximum scholarship amounts for two, three, or four semesters

2003

Note: This content is under review.
Work directly with staff and organizations who have high contact with students to recruit students to participate in the program. Follow up can be conducted both in-person and digitally.
Build or procure a system with clear, transparent criteria to verify student eligibility for scholarship disbursements, covering everything from the source of student data to rules for extensions if a student becomes ineligible.
Prioritize scheduling and releasing scholarship disbursements in a timely and accurate manner, including regular dialogue with necessary administrative partners, such as a financial aid office.
Disburse payments in a way that is distinct from other forms of financial aid, but that still minimizes costs to students (such as bank fees).
Develop and implement a communications strategy that distinguishes the program as an ongoing incentive – one that needs to be continually earned separately from a traditional scholarship. Communication, therefore, should occur both before the program and at regular intervals throughout it.
Evaluate the health of the program at regular intervals - such as at the halfway point and ends of each semester – to ensure that eligibility criteria are reasonable and that the scholarship disbursement process operates fairly and smoothly.