Locally-Sourced Scholars

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As a high school student from a small Central Maine town, I had always imagined attending college out-of-state. A full scholarship I received from a prestigious in-state college made it possible for me to attend an expensive school that would have been impossible to afford. However, it was not enough to keep me in Maine, as I left immediately after graduation. As a student of Higher Education Administration, I am interested in both the challenges facing rural first-year students and the communities they leave behind.

State legislatures across the country have been trying to solve the problem of the “brain drain”, which is the migration of their ‘best and brightest” students out-of-state. In a 2010 study, Zheng and Ness analyzed the merit-based scholarships implemented in 14 different states to discern whether such programs worked and which were the most successful. The study analyzed the enrollment of state residents who were first-year students both before and after the implementation of state scholarships and quantified them as the “stayers”. They also looked at those first-year students who chose to study at an out-of-state school and quantified them as the “leavers.”

Merit-based scholarships reduce the “brain drain”. The study found that after states introduced a merit-based scholarship, the number of stayers increased while the number of leavers decreased. Overall, the proportion of students who attended colleges in other states decreased 4% on average.

Not all scholarships are created equal. Some states are only successful at increasing enrollments at flagship universities. Florida’s Bright Futures scholarship has a two-tier scholarship system that gives strong students either full tuition at an in-state public university or 75% tuition at any private college or university. This allows students more choice in which in-state school they can attend.

Keep It simple Navigating the qualifications for scholarship eligibility can be daunting. Louisiana offers full scholarships to students with a 3.0 GPA and 20 ACT score. It was among the most successful, perhaps because it was among the most straight-forward.

Any college-bound student should inform themselves about what state-based scholarships they may be eligible for. Several states offer full tuition to qualified students willing not to roam too far from home!

Reference

Zhang, L., Ness, E.C. (2010). Does state merit-based aid stem brain drain? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 32(2), 143-165.