Our Spotlight video series is highlighting each of our network research teams and their projects. In this video, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Ph.D., principal investigator and founding director of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, describes the Affording Degree Completion project.

Cost remains a significant hurdle to college completion, even as students near the finish line. Some colleges offer small completion grants of $500 to $1,500 to students who are less than a year from obtaining their degrees but at risk of dropping out due to financial hardship. These grants often come with "skin in the game" stipulations that students perform certain activities intended to support college completion, such as meeting with an advisor or attending financial literacy training.

The Affording Degree Completion team is working with 11 open- and broad-access institutions, all members of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), to assess the features of completion grant programs and evaluate whether students who receive these grants complete their degrees at a higher rate than students who do not have access to completion grants. The study is a collaboration between Temple University's Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice and the APLU.