She is also a Senior Research Associate at the Community College Research Center, and a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her primary areas of study are labor economics and higher-education policy, with a particular focus on financial aid, student employment, student remediation, and programmatic barriers to persistence and completion at non-selective institutions. Scott-Clayton’s research on financial aid simplification, the impact of merit-based scholarships, and the validity of remedial placement exams has received national press coverage and has contributed to ongoing debates regarding financial aid and remediation policy. Scott-Clayton holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.