By David Pendered
Fear of losing a HOPE scholarship may be one reason college students are steering away from a degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to research conducted by a professor at Georgia State University.
“We find that as a result of these merit aid programs, there was a significant drop in the probability of students majoring in STEM,” David Sjoquist, co-author of the study, said in a statement.
Sjoquist is an economics professor in the Center for State and Local Finance and the Fiscal Research Center at GSU’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. John Winters, of Oklahoma State University, collaborated on the project.
Sjoquist and Winters have produced two reports since August that are adding substance to the debate over the need to tweak the HOPE scholarship.
One emerging issue is the scholarship’s requirement that recipients maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0, on a 4.0-point scale. Other requirements exist. The 3.0 GPA must be maintained, regardless of the perceived difficulty of the field of study, to retain the scholarship.
Here’s how Sjoquist framed the issue in GSU’s statement:
- “Further analysis is needed to explain why merit aid affects the choice of college major. If the effect is a result of students’ concern with earning the grade-point average (GPA) necessary to maintain scholarship eligibility, one policy solution would be to lower the GPA requirement for STEM majors. If high school students avoid courses that would prepare them for STEM majors to maintain eligibility for merit aid, basing their eligibility on SAT or ACT scores could reduce that problem.”
Further research is needed to determine the reason merit aid affects choice of the college major. The Sjoquist/Winters research establishes that merit aid does affect choice of major.
This is the abstract from the paper published in August, emphasis supplied:
- “Since 1991 more than two dozen states have adopted merit-based student financial aid programs, intended at least in part to increase the stock of human capital by improving the knowledge and skills of the state’s workforce. At the same time, there has been growing concern that the United States is producing too few college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Using microdata from the American Community Survey, this paper examines whether recently adopted state merit aid programs have affected college major decisions, with a focus on STEM fields. We find consistent evidence that state merit programs did in fact reduce the likelihood that a young person in the state will earn a STEM degree.”
This is the conclusion of the abstract from the second paper (the beginning of the abstract repeated the wording of the first abstract):
- “[T]his paper examines whether recently adopted state merit aid programs have affected college major decisions, with a focus on STEM fields. We find consistent evidence that state merit programs did in fact reduce the likelihood that a young person in the state will earn a STEM degree.”
The second study reviewed 27 states, including Georgia, which adopted merit-based state aid programs between 1991 and 2005, according to GSU’s statement. Researchers paid particular attention to nine states viewed as having strong programs – Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Results indicate that a strong merit aid program relates to a 6.5 percent reduction in the number of STEM graduates. The drop could be as great as 9.1 percent. A greater proportion of males than females dropped out of STEM programs, according to the statement.
I can see so many sides of this issue. There are certainly more than “two sides” to consider. Some things to think about relevant to this article:
1. Educating our young people is an investment that will drive Georgia competitiveness and improve our economy.
2. Still, providing the HOPE scholarship is costly to taxpayers.
3. Sometimes we have competing concerns, such as healthcare for the working class, that also need dollars.
4. Fear of not getting or losing the HOPE scholarship absolutely shapes the classes high school students and college students take.
5. There is still a need for non-STEM majors. In fact, should every student rush into STEM, there would be a glut of jobseekers and a shortage of jobs there.
6. Student pressure is increased by the increasing proclivity of colleges to accept students from out of state or from abroad in order to collect the greater tuition.
7. Students from outside the state are a benefit – even when they take a coveted spot at, for instance, Georgia Tech. Having students from all over the country and the world on a campus, enriches that community and allows students new experiences and friendships that would not otherwise be possible.
Somehow all of these things are related and other readers could add many more factors to this list. I do not envy anyone tasked with trying to determine precisely why students are veering away from STEM. It is such a complex issue with so many different threads.
“Further analysis is needed to explain why
merit aid affects the choice of college major. If the effect is a result of
students’ concern with earning the grade-point average (GPA) necessary to
maintain scholarship eligibility, one policy solution would be to lower the GPA
requirement for STEM majors. If high school students avoid courses that would
prepare them for STEM majors to maintain eligibility for merit aid, basing
their eligibility on SAT or ACT scores could reduce that problem.”
_______________________________________________________________________________
Neither would be good policy. Yes, lowering the GPA requirement for STEM majors
would have the effect of broadening the pool of candidates for medical school,
engineering school etc. But, society benefits when those in these professions
have a “knack” for those fields of study. If someone struggles to
excel in those subject’s core classes it is likely they will struggle in the
professions. Does society really benefit from having doctors or engineers who
lack an innate talent?
In addition, lowering GPA requirements for
STEM majors so they are privileged in receiving Hope funding sends the signal
that non-STEM majors are less valued. Society needs a robust cadre of writers,
artists and philosophers. While STEM folks help us to understand
“how?”, non-STEM people help answer “why?” (and why not).
Suggesting we base Hope eligibility on SAT or ACT scores in order to help
prevent students from avoiding the harder STEM courses indicates a fundamental
ignorance of the realities of education. Since about half the SAT and ACT
scores come from reading and writing, this would have the effect of penalizing
some students who have a particularly strong predilection toward math/science.
As a science major many years ago I knew a few fellow students who really
struggled in standardized language arts exams, but were absolute wizards in
math and science. Basing their Hope on SAT/ACT may have doomed their prospects
for Hope funding and deprived the scientific community of invaluable members.
A better solution would be to move the Hope eligibility from being solely merit
based to both merit and needs based. For most upper-income students the Hope
scholarship is barely a drop in the bucket for attending elite institutions
such as Emory, Mercer, Oglethorpe, Agnes Scott etc. But for lower income
students that little bit can still make a big difference, particularly when
attending relatively low cost public schools such as Tech, GSU or UGA.
Increasing the pool of low income students would help identify and nurture an
underutilized source of potential talented STEM majors. Who knows, a young Georgian
who develops practical cold fusion energy or a cure for cancer could be among them.
I do agree that providing the HOPE scholarship is costly to taxpayers. Especially when taking into account an abundunt students cheating, as this source states https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/09/universities-urged-to-block-essay-mill-sites-in-plagiarism-crackdown.
Personally, I know many students that ordered scholarship essays at writing services companies. Do you think they deserve help?
Students should know that HOPE is not the only scholarship available in the country. There are many as listed in http://www.best-essay-writing.services/. They can be very useful as well and cover most of the things required during education.
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Understudy’s Receiving Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Less Likely to Seek STEM Degrees … articles featuring a new report by Georgia State University and Oklahoma … Car Care Service In Dubai grants decrease the probability that an understudy will procure a certificate in science, innovation, designing and arithmetic (STEM) fields.
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