A new study looks at how the Bridging the Gap program at Rutgers University-Camden improved affordability and reduced financial stress for eligible first-year students.
Rutgers University has three campuses in New Jersey with Camden being the smallest. It also is a self-described “access” university that has attracted nontraditional students and students from traditionally underserved backgrounds. In an effort to make the university even more accessible, the Bridging the Gap program was announced in 2015. 
A report from the Community Development and Regional Outreach, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia titled, “How Does Last-Dollar Financial Aid Affect First-Year Student Outcomes? Evidence from the Bridging the Gap Study” examines the impact on the first cohort, students who entered in 2016.
A last-dollar program looks at the gap between federal, state and other kinds of financial aid that’s available to students and the total cost. In this study, the university looked at the residual amount of tuition and campus fees left over after students had gotten their full award from the federal and state governments as well as institutional grants.
The requirements to be eligible for this first Bridging the Gap cohort were that students were New Jersey residents, U.S. citizens or permanent residents and they were first-year students accepted to Rutgers-Camden who fell within the economic criteria. For lower-income students, the remainder amount was completely discounted and for middle-income students the remaining tuition was reduced by half.
Utilizing analysis of enrollment and academic performance data as well as interviews, the study examines how these students viewed college access and opportunity given the additional money made available and how well they performed.
There were 246 participating students in the fall 2016 cohort. They were compared with students in the two prior years. Students in Bridging the Gap are required to complete 30 credits per academic year and maintain a 2.0 average. To facilitate this, changes were also made in academic advising and registration.
