The impact of merit-based scholarships on enrolment yield: a branch campus case study

ABSTRACT

Universities use merit-based scholarships as a recruitment tool to attract and enrol academically talented students. Various literature concludes scholarships can have an overall positive impact on the enrolment yield of new students. This article provides an analysis of the merit-based scholarship programme for new students at a Japan-based branch campus of a large, public university in the United States of America (US), which serves as an evaluation of the programme itself and provides a case study for universities to use in evaluating their own programmes. Using a data sample of students recruited from outside of Japan across five academic years, the enrolment yield of scholarship recipients is compared against non-recipients in general, and across several academic rankings. It found that not only did merit-based scholarship recipients enrol at a higher yield in general, but scholarships were also a likely factor in an increased yield for the most academically talented students.

KEYWORDS:

• Merit scholarships
• merit-based aid
• enrolment yield
• higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).