I am not sure if this is allowed here or if this is the proper place to link this, but I thought this article (long) might be of interest.
Article on using algorithms to manage scholarships offerings as they relate to enrollment management
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I searched the entire article for any actual data or evidence supporting the title. All I could find was data indicating a positive effect, with the author saying
This is precisely where algorithms shine—they help financial aid offices make better educated guesses about how scholarship funding increases likelihood of student enrollment.
In one academic study, this resulted in a 23.3% increase in enrollment yield (from 12.1% to 14.8%) of out-of-state students a “10% increase in enrollment” through scholarship optimization. … the use of these algorithms may also reduce the workload for financial aid and admissions offices facing many thousands of college applications, which in turn reduces time and labor costs.
predicting yield is valuable for important considerations like institutional financial stability, ensuring course availability, and preparing sufficient student housing
What follows is paragraphs and paragraphs of hypotheticals.
“Potential harms”, “ they may reduce”, “ third concern is the possibility of”, “impact is potentially dramatic”, “ This may be contributing”, “ they may also short-change students”, “ algorithms are susceptible ”, “ susceptible to the possibility”, “ could easily be correlated”, “ Other possible concerns”, etc., etc.
With zero supporting data.
All with the advice “it should not be assumed”, “ it is impossible to know ”.
Which somehow leads to the definitive
Enrollment algorithms are contributing to the crises of higher education
As a research paper, this would get an F for failure to provide evidentiary support for the thesis.