Performance-based funding (PBF) is an increasingly popular higher education policy designed to hold colleges accountable for their students’ academic outcomes. The majority of states in the U.S. have adopted a PBF policy, but we know very little about how PBF adoption affects completion outcomes among underserved subgroups or whether specific design elements of PBF policies exacerbate inequities facing traditionally disadvantaged students. In this study, we examine the effects of various PBF policies on the completion outcomes of historically underserved students.
