Sign Me Up

This project examines the roll-out of Washington State's College Bound Scholarship (CBS). The CBS is an early commitment (between grades 7-8, and 9 for the first cohort) promise program that offers middle schoolers a promise of financial aid for college in exchange for signing a pledge to be a good student and citizen. The CBS is designed to signal to students early on that college is a financially attainable goal, and in so doing change their expectations and educational trajectories. <br><br>Specifically, the project investigates the factors that influence middle schoolers' decisions about signing the CBS. We employ a mixed methods evaluation framework and incorporate information from interviews with program administers, as well as regression models of the propensity of students to sign the pledge or enroll in college.