A recent report from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has suggested the possibility that campaigns on the national and state level to increase FAFSA completions among high school students (“nudge” campaigns) do not increase financial aid receipt or college enrollment rates.
The study entailed two trials to encourage students to apply for financial aid for college. Over 800,000 students were reached by the campaigns. As NASFAA reports, the first entailed sending text messages, emails, and mail to lower-income and first-generation high school students who registered with the Common Application, encouraging them to apply for financial aid. The second sent text messages about changes to financial aid to students who applied to college using a state-sponsored portal.
The authors of the study came to the conclusion that while “nudge” campaigns may be effective on a local level, they are difficult to scale to the state and national level. They found that in both trials, the messages did not increase enrollment rates overall or by individual sectors, save for a 1.1% increase in enrollments for 2 year institutions in the second trial.
The original report can be found for download/purchase here.
Sources: NASFAA: New Report Questions Impact of Scaling “Nudge” Campaigns