The Pittsburgh Promise gets even better
More students will have a chance to go to college even though the maximum scholarship has been reduced, explain University of Pittsburgh professor LINDSAY C. PAGE and research scientist JENNIFER E. IRITI
Tno other scholarships, this student wouldbe eligible for the full value of the Promise.
While these details may seem confusing, they matter tremendously. Writ large, allowing Promise dollars to be applied beyond tuition and fees provides our lowest-income students and families the best opportunity to benefit from the support that the Promise intends to provide so that students can go to college and succeed once there.
Second, the Promise is doing away with its complicated sliding scale whereby the amount of funding for which students are eligible was partly governed by the number of years a student was enrolled in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Now all students enrolled from at least ninth grade will be eligible for the same maximum award.
Why is this important? A large body of research on postsecondary funding programs reveals that when such programs have simple and transparent designs, they tend to have larger effects on the outcomes they are designed to achieve. Elimination of the sliding scale will allow students to enter into the daunting college search, application and selection process with a clearer understanding of the Promise support for which they are eligible.
In reality, except for the elimination of the sliding scale, the
recent changes mean that the Promise will look more like it did in its early years. Given this, what might we expect in terms of program impacts going forward?
In a recently completed study, we found that, because of the Promise, PPS students are significantly more likely to access postsecondary education and to persist beyond their first year (we have not yet examined graduation outcomes). PPS students are especially more likely to pursue college in-state, meaning that the Promise is keeping talented PPS graduates in Pennsylvania for college.
Lastly, PPS students are more likely to attend fouryear institutions immediately after high school. Overall, our research shows that the Promise is achieving its intended goal of helping more Pittsburgh students attend college, even with the reduced maximum award of $5,000.
Together, the most recent changes mean that the still substantial benefits of the Pittsburgh Promise can reach a broader set of students, especially those who may struggle the most to meet Pennsylvania’s steep costs of higher education. In addition, the message to PPS students about the funding for which they are eligible has also been simplified. Thus, although it may not be obvious at first, the Promise has changed for the better.