When a Few Bucks Can Get Students to the Finish Line

Shari Garmise, the executive director of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and vice president of the office of urban initiatives at the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities, said that so far, every single completion grant recipient has stayed in school or graduated. Next up are randomized control trials at several of the universities. Garmise said that for some schools, the study opens a larger issue: Is financial aid just for giving students access to college? Or can it be used to help them complete it? “We have a problem to solve,” she said. “The deeper question is how do we rethink financial aid as part of the total student journey.”