Gulbrandsen, VéO’Donnell Davidson, DanaanScott, BrettSmith, Jennifer2017-07-042017-07-042017-06-13https://hdl.handle.net/1794/22487Examining Committee: Benjamin Clark and Bethany SteinerOregon Promise seeks to help newly graduated high school students and recent GED recipients pursue higher education by covering up to the average tuition cost of a community college in the state of Oregon. The grant was approved by the Oregon State Legislature in 2015 and first became available to students in Fall 2016. The grant is expected to have served upwards of 6,700 students in the first year with a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $3,397 being awarded to each student who qualified for the grant (minus a $50 co-pay per term).1 Oregon Promise is administered by Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC). This analysis explores the role that Oregon Promise has played in the lives of the first cohort of students, advisors and administrators to utilize the program. Since its conception, this study has been guided by two main research questions: 1) did Oregon Promise expand enrollment, especially for specific demographics, among students who would have otherwise not gone to college; and 2) how have outreach, messaging, and specific supporting programs, impacted student experiences? In an attempt to answer these questions, our study relied on a combination of focus groups and interviews (both in person and over the phone) with Oregon Promise recipients as well as administrators and advisors from various community colleges throughout the state of Oregon. Additionally, this study builds on the work of Education Northwest’s 2016 study Fulfilling the Promise?: Early Findings on Oregon’s New College Grant Program.en-USCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USOregon PromiseHigher educationStudent successCollege financingTerminal Project