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Full-Text Articles in Higher Education
Clicking In The Dark: Are Student Financial Aid Websites Accessible For Students With Disabilities?, Zachary W. Taylor
Clicking In The Dark: Are Student Financial Aid Websites Accessible For Students With Disabilities?, Zachary W. Taylor
Journal of Student Financial Aid
The United States (U.S.) Access Board, a branch of the federal government responsible for advancing the inclusion of people with disabilities into U.S. society, recently amended Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). On January 18th, 2018, the final Section 508 amendment required all Title IV institutions of higher education in the United States to conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) at the Level-A and Level-AA thresholds. As students with disabilities are often minoritized from the U.S. higher education system, this study explored the web accessibility of institutional .edu financial aid websites (n=450) to learn if …
Changes In Hbcu Financial Aid And Student Enrollment After The Tightening Of Plus Credit Standards, Matthew T. Johnson, Julie Bruch, Brian Gill
Changes In Hbcu Financial Aid And Student Enrollment After The Tightening Of Plus Credit Standards, Matthew T. Johnson, Julie Bruch, Brian Gill
Journal of Student Financial Aid
We analyze changes in financial aid and student enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that occurred after the U.S. Department of Education increased the credit history requirements necessary to obtain Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS). We use institution-level data to examine financial aid and enrollment changes in the first two academic years affected by the new credit standards (2012-13 and 2013-14). The results show that PLUS loans declined substantially at HBCUs in 2012-13, and the decreases were not fully replaced by other types of federal financial aid. HBCUs also experienced larger declines in enrollment than other institutions …
College Didn’T Prepare Me For This: The Realities Of The Student Debt Crisis And The Effect It Is Having On College Graduates, April Perry, Cassandra Spencer
College Didn’T Prepare Me For This: The Realities Of The Student Debt Crisis And The Effect It Is Having On College Graduates, April Perry, Cassandra Spencer
The William & Mary Educational Review
Student loans are like a dark cloud looming above 41 million Americans (Perna, Kvall, & Ruiz, 2017). Through young adults’ personal accounts and relevant literature, we aimed to explore how student debt has altered the lives of college graduates and what can be done to educate students before they graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. To provide context, we first discuss a brief history of student loans and address what we know from the literature about the burden of student debt. Next, we address the factors that contribute to the student debt crisis and the effects of …
Nudging Students Beyond The Fafsa: The Impact Of University Outreach On Financial Aid Behaviors And Outcomes, Benjamin L. Castleman, Katharine E. Meyer, Zachary Sullivan, William D. Hartog, Scott Miller
Nudging Students Beyond The Fafsa: The Impact Of University Outreach On Financial Aid Behaviors And Outcomes, Benjamin L. Castleman, Katharine E. Meyer, Zachary Sullivan, William D. Hartog, Scott Miller
Journal of Student Financial Aid
A growing body of research indicates that proactive outreach from high schools and college access organizations about college preparation tasks, and specifically focusing on completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), results in increased college enrollment. Comparatively less attention has been paid to the role of colleges and universities in this outreach and outreach relating to additional financial aid barriers that students face while applying to college, such as the CSS PROFILE form. In this article we investigated, through an inter-university collaboration, the effect of sending targeted, semi-personalized text messages to students during the college application process about …
Uncovering Barriers To Financial Capability: Underrepresented Students’ Access To Financial Resources, Brenda Eichelberger, Heather Mattioli, Rachel Foxhoven
Uncovering Barriers To Financial Capability: Underrepresented Students’ Access To Financial Resources, Brenda Eichelberger, Heather Mattioli, Rachel Foxhoven
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Financial aid is designed to increase access to postsecondary education at all socioeconomic levels; however, college students are not always knowledgeable about personal finances or capable of making sound decisions regarding complex college and program choices, debt options, and long-term spending. This article reviews previous research on the need for financial literacy training among underrepresented students and the barriers caused by inadequate access to financial services and information. Studies reviewed explore (a) the abilities of underrepresented students to make informed financial decisions; (b) the disadvantages faced by minority and first-generation students compared to their more advantaged peers; and (c) the …
Federal Pell Grant Eligibility And Receipt: Explaining Nonreceipt And Changes To Efc Using National And Institutional Data, Brent J. Evans, Tuan D. Nguyen, Brent B. Tener, Chanell L. Thomas
Federal Pell Grant Eligibility And Receipt: Explaining Nonreceipt And Changes To Efc Using National And Institutional Data, Brent J. Evans, Tuan D. Nguyen, Brent B. Tener, Chanell L. Thomas
Journal of Student Financial Aid
In examining national data on Federal Pell Grant eligibility in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), we were puzzled to discover that many students who appear to have eligible Expected Family Contributions (EFCs) do not receive the award. We use institutional data from a large public university to understand and enumerate changes from initial Free Application for Student Financial Aid (FAFSA) EFC to final Pell Grant EFC and explore why EFC changes occur. We determine that the nonreceipt of Pell Grant observed in NPSAS is likely due to NPSAS not reporting final Pell Grant EFCs. We examine how the …
Leveraging Guided Pathways To Improve Financial Aid Design And Delivery, Maria Luna-Torres, Melet Leafgreen, Lyle Mckinney
Leveraging Guided Pathways To Improve Financial Aid Design And Delivery, Maria Luna-Torres, Melet Leafgreen, Lyle Mckinney
Journal of Student Financial Aid
To address low completion rates, postsecondary leaders are championing a “guided pathways” approach that puts students on a prescribed route towards graduation. Designing solutions to address low completion rates is complex; in addition to academic roadblocks, insufficient financial resources coupled with a complicated financial aid system can intensify barriers to completion, especially for students whose continued enrollment is highly dependent on financial aid. Without a comprehensive approach that specifically addresses financial aid funding shortages, students will continue to struggle to complete their programs of study. Opportunities exist to redesign the financial aid system so that the current guided pathways movement …
The Distributional And Cost Implications Of Negative Expected Family Contributions, Robert Kelchen
The Distributional And Cost Implications Of Negative Expected Family Contributions, Robert Kelchen
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Eligibility for many federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs is determined by the expected family contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which functions as a tool to ration scarce aid dollars. The lowest possible EFC under current rules is zero, but this obscures a wider distribution of family resources that would be partially uncovered if the EFC formula were not truncated at zero and negative values were allowed. In this paper, I estimate negative EFCs using student-level data from nine colleges and universities between the 2007-08 and 2011-12 academic year. I find a large …
In The Right Ballpark? Assessing The Accuracy Of Net Price Calculators, Aaron M. Anthony, Lindsay C. Page, Abigail Seldin
In The Right Ballpark? Assessing The Accuracy Of Net Price Calculators, Aaron M. Anthony, Lindsay C. Page, Abigail Seldin
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Large differences often exist between a college’s sticker price and net price after accounting for financial aid. Net price calculators (NPCs) were designed to help students more accurately estimate their actual costs to attend a given college. This study assesses the accuracy of information provided by net price calculators. Specifically, we compare NPC estimates of financial aid to actual aid packages for a sample of low-income, first-time college students at seven postsecondary institutions which all utilize the federal template NPC. We find that NPC estimates of grant aid correlate highly with actual grant aid on average, but variation in individual …
How Money Helps Keep Students In College: The Relationship Between Family Finances, Merit-Based Aid, And Retention In Higher Education, Alexandre M. Olbrecht, Christopher Romano, Jeremy Teigen
How Money Helps Keep Students In College: The Relationship Between Family Finances, Merit-Based Aid, And Retention In Higher Education, Alexandre M. Olbrecht, Christopher Romano, Jeremy Teigen
Journal of Student Financial Aid
In this paper, we leverage detailed, individual-level student data to understand the relationships between family finances, merit-based aid, and first-year student retention. With three cohorts of student data that comprise family financial status, institutional merit scholarships, and many of the other known correlates of student retention, we regress sophomore retention of first-time, full-time students on the financial variables with controls. We find that an increase in a family’s ability to contribute to educational costs improves a student’s chances of retention. Additionally, our data show that institutional financial assistance also bolsters the likelihood that students return for their sophomore year.
Book Review: The Real College Debt Crisis: How Student Borrowing Threatens Financial Well-Being And Erodes The American Dream, Ellie M. Bruecker
Book Review: The Real College Debt Crisis: How Student Borrowing Threatens Financial Well-Being And Erodes The American Dream, Ellie M. Bruecker
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Not applicable
Keeping The Promise: Factors Affecting Timing To Merit Scholarship Loss, Jacob P.K. Gross, Angela D. Bell, Matthew Berry
Keeping The Promise: Factors Affecting Timing To Merit Scholarship Loss, Jacob P.K. Gross, Angela D. Bell, Matthew Berry
Journal of College Access
Despite increased attention paid to the advent and development of state merit scholarship policies (such as Georgia’s Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) and some evidence that suggests differences in scholarship retention by socioeconomic status or other student characteristics, little empirical work has explored factors affecting scholarship retention. Moreover, no work has explored what affects the timing of scholarship loss. This study employs event history modeling to ascertain not only what factors impact students’ retention of the West Virginia PROMISE Scholarship but also when these factors are most influential.
Does Federal Financial Aid Policy Influence The Institutional Aid Policies Of Four-Year Colleges And Universities? An Exploratory Analysis, Don Hossler, Jihye Kwon
Does Federal Financial Aid Policy Influence The Institutional Aid Policies Of Four-Year Colleges And Universities? An Exploratory Analysis, Don Hossler, Jihye Kwon
Journal of Student Financial Aid
There is a dearth of empirical work that examines the relationships between federal financial aid policy and institutional financial aid priorities and expenditures. This study uses Resource Dependency Theory to explore whether changes the amount of financial aid awarded by colleges and universities during the last fifty years are best explained by changes in federal financial aid policy or by demographic and economic shifts. The results suggest that shifts in federal financial aid policy and in the economy have influenced the amount of institutional financial aid, but indicate that more research is needed on this important topic.
Envisioning A Modern Federal-State Partnership In The Reauthorization Of The Hea As An Engine To Increase Social Mobility, F. King Alexander, Ashley Arceneaux
Envisioning A Modern Federal-State Partnership In The Reauthorization Of The Hea As An Engine To Increase Social Mobility, F. King Alexander, Ashley Arceneaux
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Financial aid makes up the bulk of federal higher education spending, but do those dollars make a difference to needy students? A look at Federal Work-Study and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant allocations show that a disproportionate amount of funding goes to private universities with high tuition and low Federal Pell Grant enrollment. Additionally, many financial aid awards use cost of attendance as a factor in determining award amounts, creating an unintentional incentive for tuition increases. These elements contribute to a funding environment that favors private universities over publics. When considered alongside the fact that pervasive state disinvestment has caused …
More Than Access: The Role Of Support Services In The Transitional Experiences Of Underrepresented Students In A Statewide Access Program, Juan Gabriel Berumen, Desiree D. Zerquera, Joshua S. Smith
More Than Access: The Role Of Support Services In The Transitional Experiences Of Underrepresented Students In A Statewide Access Program, Juan Gabriel Berumen, Desiree D. Zerquera, Joshua S. Smith
Journal of Student Financial Aid
While a number of studies have examined outcomes associated with early intervention programs that have a financial aid component, few have examined the experiences of student beneficiaries of those programs and the administrators charged with carrying out state mandates associated with the implementation of the programs. This gap in the literature exists for students and administrators at both the K-12 and higher education institution levels. This qualitative study reports findings from interviews and focus groups with 76 administrators and 150 students from colleges and universities in a Midwestern state that implemented a middle school-to-college access program. Findings highlight the disparity …
An Examination Of The Relationship Between Various Methods Of Financing College Costs And Academic Achievemet, Kenneth Ostberg
An Examination Of The Relationship Between Various Methods Of Financing College Costs And Academic Achievemet, Kenneth Ostberg
Journal of Student Financial Aid
(Not available)
The Financial Aid Administrator And The Law, Charles T. Bargerstock
The Financial Aid Administrator And The Law, Charles T. Bargerstock
Journal of Student Financial Aid
(Not available)