The Psychology of Scholarships

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the psychology of scholarships.

We offer a dual-enrollment nursing pathway with two partner programs. They have different structures:

Option A: Students remain full time at Siena but spend time the middle two years at the partner campus for some courses and their clinicals (kind of like a study-abroad model). They keep their Siena merit scholarship throughout.

Option B: Students are full-time at the partner campus and part-time at Siena during the middle two years (this has to do with Medicare pass through…long story). Because they’re part-time at Siena, they don’t receive the full Siena merit scholarship during those terms.

The total 4-year cost can be very similar depending on the student’s aid, billing, and the partner program but sometimes one is higher than the other. We walk families through the numbers very clearly either way.

Even when Option A’s cost is higher for a specific family, some will choose it because they get to keep their scholarship.

It might sound irrational, but it’s really just very human and tells us that scholarships are not just a discount on tuition. They are a signal of earned value (“I/My student earned this.”) and a loss-aversion trigger (“Don’t take away what we already have.”).

Just another example on how the college process is emotional!