This is the executive summary for "Structuring State Policy for Student Success: Applying Incentives in the Volunteer State." For many years, state funding to public colleges and universities in Tennessee and across the nation was distributed based primarily on enrollment, rather than degree production or efficiency. This led or allowed institutions to seek more funding through efforts such as boosting enrollment and engaging in mission creep, with little incentive for completion. To address this ill effect and promote better outcomes tied to state goals, Tennessee has implemented two primary types of direct economic incentives for institutions: performance funding (1979) and an outcomes-based funding formula for public higher education (2010). Under these initiatives, institutional performance, as measured by the funding model, leads directly to the institution's amount and share of state appropriations for institutional operating expenses. In Tennessee's experience, incentives work. This experience is pertinent to other states because: with only 36 percent of its adult residents holding a postsecondary certificate or higher, Tennessee has a long way to go in terms of educational attainment; it has made substantial strides in a short time; and it shares enough characteristics with enough states to make its experience relevant across a variety of state contexts. [For the full report, see ED587412.]