We are seeing several initiatives in the K-12 and college completion world where students are being supported financially as an incentive for them to finish their degrees. What do you feel about this approach? Would it work for your students?
Here is a very interesting article on this strategy, Schools Prod Students Toward Diplomas With Tuition, Cash [LINK]. The article also refers to some interesting models that are being implemented right now and here is an excerpt:
"The expectation of a paycheck motivates many adults to work. Now, though, some educators and policymakers are wondering: Could an incentive of cash get students to perform in school?
To answer that question, a growing number of districts and schools across the country have experimented with using financial incentives in various ways to improve achievement. Some have given $100 or more to students who score well on an Advanced Placement test. Then there is the promise of a college scholarship at an early age in hopes of encouraging students to stay in school and succeed.
Money is indeed an enticing carrot. It sparks interest, and in some cases, produces positive results. But it's hard to know how much impact financial incentives alone have on students' success. Often those initiatives are coupled with added instruction for students, training for teachers, and support from the community—and for good reason.
Cash can be part of a successful approach, but experts say students also need motivated teachers to help them and strategies to improve their performance. Some who administer these programs are realizing the need for a more comprehensive approach to ensure a better return on their investment. Others are raising their program eligibility standards to give scholarships to those most likely to succeed. While some see money as a bribe that threatens to dampen students' intrinsic motivation to learn, it does seem to offer some potential for altering students' behaviors, and policymakers are figuring out just how to leverage it for the best results."
~ Priyanka Sharma
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Starbucks will provide a free online college education to thousands of its workers, without requiring that they remain with the company, through an unusual arrangement with Arizona State University, the company and the university will announce on Monday.
More details here - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/us/starbucks-to-provide-free-college-education-to-thousands-of-workers.html
~ Priyanka Sharma
I found another model that tried to solve the college affordability puzzle and provides a lot of scaffolding to the participating students. This scaffolding come in the form of student success coaches, college success modules, and additional academic support. This particular program targets traditional high school students. It will be an interesting model to follow as more and more states are planning to emulate it including Tennessee and Oregon.
Excerpt:
The program is called Tulsa Achieves, and, so far, it's helped some 10,000 kids into college. Charles Davis is one of them. He says the program changed his life because when he graduated from high school, he was lost.
Davis is 20 and grew up in Owasso, Oklahoma (a Tulsa suburb). He says his high school grades were pretty good, but college was out of the question.
"I just knew it was going to cost more than I had," he says.
No scholarship offers came in. No recruiters beat down his door. His family couldn't cover the costs, and neither Davis nor his parents wanted to take out tons of loans to make up the difference. Still, he couldn't say no to a free education at Tulsa Community College, where Tom McKeon is president.
"We established Tulsa Achieves seven years ago," McKeon says, "because we no longer believed that a high school diploma was sufficient in terms of the jobs of the future."
In 2007, McKeon helped convince local business and political leaders to think of the program as an investment — not an expense. To qualify, students have to live in Tulsa County, graduate from high school with at least a C average and commit to at least two years of community service.
"I think we're seeing kids that never, ever dreamed that college was a possibility for them because parents didn't think it was within their realm," McKeon says. "So it wasn't even a topic of discussion."
The total cost for Tulsa Achieves is $3,400 per student per year and is mostly paid for with local property taxes. When asked if taxpayers are getting their money's worth, McKeon throws out these numbers: eight out of ten students who enter the program... finish it.
Complete Article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/06/11/320633113/college-for-free-tulsa-radical-idea