This study examines the magnitude of the effect of the KIP Kuliah scholarship on the academic achievement of students at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Administrasi Karya Dharma Merauke (STIA KD Merauke), a private higher education institution in South Papua Province, Indonesia. The study is motivated by the persistently high cost of higher education relative to the financial capacity of many academically capable students, and by field indications that a substantial share of KIP Kuliah recipients at the institution have struggled to maintain their required grade point average despite receiving scholarship support. Employing a quantitative, causal-associative design, data were collected through a Likert-scale questionnaire administered as a census to all 81 KIP Kuliah recipients from the 2022, 2023, and 2024 cohorts, supplemented by institutional documentation and supporting interviews. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, simple linear regression, the coefficient of determination, and the F-test, following instrument validity and reliability testing and classical assumption testing. The results show a positive and significant relationship between the KIP Kuliah scholarship and student academic achievement, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.553 and a regression equation of Y = 20.692 + 0.142X. The coefficient of determination indicates that the scholarship explains 30.6 percent of the variance in academic achievement, with the remaining 69.4 percent attributable to other factors. The F-test confirms the effect is statistically significant (F = 34.814 > F-table 3.96; Sig. = 0.001 < 0.05), leading to rejection of the null hypothesis. Interpreted through William Dunn's six policy-evaluation criteria, effectiveness, efficiency, adequacy, equity, responsiveness, and appropriateness, the KIP Kuliah program at STIA KD Merauke is found to have been implemented well, though its effect on achievement operates alongside substantial unexplained variance linked to time ma