Early Commitment Financial Aid Programs - Pathways to College ...

usinesses, and private foundations create early commitment
programs, the research community should be called upon to
conduct studies that will help all of us better understand the
effectiveness of this approach and the appropriateness of this
investment, particularly when public funds are involved.
5. Invest in support programs and outreach efforts. The two
state early financial aid commitment programs, as well as most
of the privately sponsored programs and the institutionally
based programs mentioned in this paper, offer or require
support services. The most common support activities found
in existing programs are academic and general college
preparation activities. But programs have developed specific
strengths through other support programs. The Indiana Twentyfirst
Century Scholars Program has found that the Scholars
Parents Project, which involves parents as partners, not just as
participants or volunteers, is highly effective and of interest to
states. In Indiana’s case, Lilly Endowment stepped up in 1991
to provide seed funds to implement The Parents Project in
several sites statewide. According to the “Twenty-first Century
Scholars Progress Report,” “The Parents Project provides
parents the skills and knowledge they need to make themselves
educational leaders in their families.” 51 GEAR UP funds are
also being used to provide a parent leader for every county and
increase regional support program budgets for parent activities,
transportation, and childcare. The importance of efforts to
involve parents is reinforced by a recent California study that
found the influence of parents is the most critical factor for
determining whether low-income and first-generation students
who filled out financial aid applications actually enrolled in
college. 52
5. Invest in support programs
and outreach efforts.
An associated element of support programs is the recognition
that marketing is vital. Students and their families must know
about the early guarantee of aid in time to take advantage
of the program. This is an ongoing responsibility of the state,
higher education institutions, and schools and requires annual
appropriations or budget commitments. Assigning overall
marketing and communication accountability to a specific
agency might produce a more coordinated and comprehensive
effort. Working in tandem with support services, marketing
strategies would result in broadly disseminated information,
possibly in multiple languages and using a wide range of media.
6. Explore the value of public-private partnerships. When
feasible, states may want to explore the potential of publicprivate
partnerships. The Rhode Island Children’s Crusade, for
example, combines funding from federal and state government,
corporations, foundations, and individuals. Other state
agencies and community groups are also valuable partners.
Indiana’s Twenty-first Century Scholars Program collaborates
with Communities in Schools, a federally funded program that
pairs school corporations with local businesses and service
6. Explore the value of publicprivate
partnerships.
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