The Cash for College PBS Study

The process to participate in the 2010 Cash for College Performance Based Scholarship Program is now closed. Scholarship recipients will be notified during the scholarship awarding period beginning in late May and into June, 2010.

Cash for College is participating in a national study called the Performance Based Scholarship Demonstration, which is operating at several colleges and universities around the country. The project is being managed by MDRC, a research company with offices in New York City and Oakland, California. The CFC PBS study scholarships are only offered at workshops in the following CFC regions - Los Angeles, Kern, Capitol and the Far North State.

Who is MDRC?

MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization that is dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people. You can find out more information about MDRC at www.mdrc.org.

What is the Performance Based Scholarship Study?

The Cash for College-Performance Based Scholarship Study will provide six types of scholarships to randomly selected students ranging in amount and length of time; with most tied to academic performance criteria.  Performance based means that in order to receive the scholarship, you must maintain a 2.0 grade point average or better across all of your college courses for the semester; completing at least 6 credit hours/units for the semester.

The six scholarships are as follows: 

1. $1,000 California Cash for College scholarship for one semester ($1000 total award)
2. $1,000 PBS for 1 semester ($1000 total award)
3. $500 PBS for each of 2 consecutive semesters ($1000 total award)
4. $1,000 PBS for each of 2 consecutive semesters($2000 total award)
5. $500 PBS for each of 4 consecutive semesters ($2000 total award)
6. $1,000 PBS for each of 4 consecutive semesters ($4000 total award)

To be eligible to participate in the study, a student must meet the following criteria:

1. Attend a CCFC workshop
2. Be a high school senior
3. Complete the FAFSA and Cal-Grant GPA verification by the March deadline
4. Complete the CFC Exit Survey
5. Enroll in at least 6 credit hours/units at a 2- year, or 4- year public, or private accredited degree granting institution of their choice beginning in the fall semester after their initial scholarship award (within or outside of California) and
6. Complete an Informed Consent form and Parental Consent form if under the age of 18
7. Meet income eligibility standards based on the Cal Grant A income eligibility criteria.* 

Why study performance based scholarships?

The purpose of this project is to understand whether performance based scholarships can improve retention and persistence among low-income community college students.  The demonstration is a replication of MDRC’s Opening Doors study in Louisiana that offered a performance based scholarship to low-income parents at two community colleges. That study showed large, statistically significant impacts on persistence and credit accumulation. This demonstration project is intended to replicate the Louisiana study using different target populations, in different geographic areas, across different institutions, and with different scholarship amounts in order to understand the generalizability of the Louisiana findings.

Why random assignment?

A random assignment evaluation is considered the gold standard of program evaluation and is the recommended research method by the US Department of Education. Since there will be no differences between members of the scholarship group and regular services group, any differences between the groups that emerge will be attributable to the program. Random assignment is becoming more widely used in evaluations for education reforms, and a number of community colleges have successfully participated in studies with this type of research. Moreover, for students, it is an objective, fair and equitable way to determine who gets these additional scholarship monies.

How will scholarships be disbursed?

Scholarships will typically be paid at three points over the course of each school year. To receive the full award amount, a student must maintain their enrollment and performance eligibility.  Students awarded scholarships will be able to link to the specific information on their scholarship amount and disbursement information on this website.

*Note: a limited number of scholarships will be available to students who exceed the Cal Grant income criteria.