Working Toward a Statewide Information System to Track the Effectiveness of Student Aid Financial Pr

1
Working Toward a Statewide Information System to
Track the Effectiveness of Student Aid Financial
Programs in Maryland

• Michael J. Keller
• Director of Policy Analysis and Research
• Maryland Higher Education Commission
• Presentation at 2002 SHEEO/NCES Network
  Conference Washington, DC- May 30, 2002

2
The Project

• This year, the Maryland Higher Education
  Commission convened a workgroup to
• Identify the data needed to conduct comprehensive
  analyses of financial aid
• Create the appropriate data collection mechanisms
  to achieve this task
• The Workgroup included representatives from all
  segments of postsecondary education the
  Commission, the Governors budget office, and the
  General Assembly

3
The Rationale

• The ability to monitor the effectiveness of
  scholarship programs requires the collection,
  maintenance and analysis of accurate data on the
  recipients of financial aid.
• This information needs to be combined with
  enrollment and completion data to measure the
  effectiveness of scholarship programs and their
  impact on student success.
• To do this on a statewide basis, the Commission
  would need three unit record data collection
  systems
• Enrollments
• Completions
• Financial Aid

4
What Currently Exists in Unit Record Format
5
Financial Aid Information Collected in Maryland

• All Maryland public and private institutions and
  many private career schools complete an annual
  form on financial aid called the S-5
• The S-5 collects figures about the types of
  financial support received by students during
  each academic year
• Grants
• Loans
• Scholarships
• Employment
• This collection has been conducted in Maryland
  since the mid 1980s

6
Composition of the S-5

• Information is presented about
• The total dollars provided
• The number of recipients
• The percentage distribution by type of
  institution
• Type of support
• Data breakdowns are available for
• Undergraduates and graduate/professional students
• Major collegiate segment
• Individual institutions
• African-American v. Non African-American

7
Limitation of the S-5

• The S-5 produces valuable information that the
  Commission has used in examining trends in
  student financial aid in the State
• But the S-5 information is provided in an
  aggregated summary level that cannot be used for
  the purpose of student tracking analysis
• A unit record collection would not only allow
  analysis through the collegiate system in
  Maryland but would provide the possibility of
  integrating this information with employment
  records maintained by the States labor department

8
The Impetus for Change

• Final Report of the Task Force on College
  Readiness for Capable and Disadvantaged Students
• Recommendation Collect the data to effectively
  analyze need-based and other financial aid
  programs to guide allocations for State financial
  aid programs
• This recommendation resulted from the difficulty
  which the financial aid subcommittee of the Task
  Force experienced in obtaining comprehensive data
  to determine whether institutions are able to
  address adequately the needs of low-income
  students and to analyze the effectiveness of the
  States aid programs
• Student unit record data should be collected for
  these purposes

9
The Impetus for Change (continued)

• Access and Affordability Refocusing Financial
  Aid in Maryland
• Recommendation Establish goals for all existing
  Maryland financial aid programs and annually
  monitor the achievement of these goals
• This monitoring requires the collection,
  maintenance, and analysis of accurate data on
  applicants and recipients

10
The Impetus for Change (continued)

• Managing for Results
• A process initiated by the Governor to measure
  the performance of State agencies and to identify
  how well they are serving citizens
• Participation is mandatory
• Results are used as part of the annual budget
  review by both the executive and legislative
  branches
• Each funded program is evaluated separately
• Results-oriented information about scholarship
  programs is not available because of the lack of
  data about their impact on students

11
The Hammer for Change

• The budget committees of the Maryland General
  Assembly adopted language directing all higher
  education institutions to work cooperatively with
  the Commission to provide student unit record
  data for the purpose of analyzing financial aid
  in a timely manner
• Directed the Commission to provide a report by
  Oct. 1 containing
• A framework for data collection from all higher
  education institutions
• A multi-year timeline for the collection of this
  information
• A multi-year research program to evaluate the
  effectiveness of the States aid programs and the
  amount of financial need of low- and
  moderate-income students being met by all types
  of assistance
• The Commission has statutory authority to collect
  this type of information from postsecondary
  institutions

12
The Results

• Private colleges and universities will be
  required to provide unit record information to
  the Commission related to enrollments and
  completions
• All institutions will be required to participate
  in a new unit-record financial aid information
  system

13
Overview of Other States

• The workgroups initial task was to review the
  efforts of other states that have significant
  experience in the collection and analysis of
  statewide financial aid data.
• Types of data collected
• Source of the data
• Kinds of analyses performed

14
Characteristics of the Emerging Maryland
Financial Aid Data Collection System

• Like the other three states, it will require the
  participation of all collegiate institutions.
• It will resemble Virginia and Washington State in
  terms of the method of data collection.
  Information will be supplied annually by the
  colleges and universities to the Commission on
  the basis of an established schedule.
• Parsimony will be exercised in the selection of
  data elements, and the system will be most like
  Washington States in that respect.
• 14 demographic and enrollment variables. All but
  one (cumulative grade point average) are
  currently collected in one of the Commissions
  other systems and will be matched to the
  financial aid data base.
• 11 financial aid variables-most drawn from the
  current S-5 form.
• A multi-year research effort will be initiated,
  as in Indiana.

15
Policy and Research Issues-Access and Enrollment

• The resources which students and their families
  use to pay for college
• Access to financial aid- which students get it
  and which do not
• The matriculation decisions of students who are
  awarded aid
• Student, institutional and family characteristics
  related to receipt of different types of
  financial aid
• The relationship between class level and the type
  and amount of assistance received

16
Policy and Research Issues-Retention and
Graduation

• Impact of different forms of financial
  assistance, the composition of financial aid
  packages, and the amount of aid on student
  retention, graduation and (for community
  colleges) transfer rates
• The role of financial aid in affecting
  persistence and completion rates of special
  populations (minority students, students from
  low-income families, and non-traditional students)

17
Policy and Research Issues- Affordability

• The relationship between the level of student
  need and the types of aid received
• The extent to which grants and scholarships cover
  the amount of money needed to pay college costs
  after factoring in family contribution,
  especially for low-and moderate-income students
• The relationship between financial aid
  availability and increases in tuition and fees in
  impacting access to college
• The extent to which there is increasing reliance
  on loans by students and particularly by those in
  special populations

18
Policy and Research Issues- Outcomes

• The post-graduation activities of aid recipients,
  particularly those participating in scholarship
  programs with service obligations
• The degree to which Marylands scholarship
  programs achieve their established
  outcomes-oriented objectives in the Managing for
  Results initiative