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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The History Of Denying Federal Financial Aid To System-Impacted Students, Bradley D. Custer Feb 2021

The History Of Denying Federal Financial Aid To System-Impacted Students, Bradley D. Custer

Journal of Student Financial Aid

People who are impacted by the criminal justice system (“system-impacted”) face barriers when seeking financial aid to pay for college. Between the late 1960s and the early 2000s, Congress created laws that prohibited incarcerated students and students with certain criminal convictions from receiving federal grants and loans. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the history of those laws, which provides context for current debates on restoring Pell Grants to students in prison. Legislative documents, scholarly sources, and news reports were studied to build this historical review. Key lessons from history are discussed as to how Congress might treat system-impacted …


Education Tax Credits: A Different Trajectory For Federal Funding Of Higher Education And Remediation For Effectual Policymaking, Anna C. Bartel Jan 2020

Education Tax Credits: A Different Trajectory For Federal Funding Of Higher Education And Remediation For Effectual Policymaking, Anna C. Bartel

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Education tax credits provide federal financial aid to a wide expanse of American taxpayers; however, little research or analysis has been done on these costly programs. There has been little evidence of its link to college enrollment growth. This descriptive paper outlines the establishment of education tax credits, their original intent, and the lack of evidence of effectual federal policy over the past two decades. Thus, the purpose of this article is to assess how the federal government has reached an $18.9 billion annual expenditure for education tax credits with little to show in returns on investment. Further, this paper …


Experiencing Financial Aid At A Historically White Institution: A Critical Race Analysis, Liane I. Hypolite, Antar A. Tichavakunda Dec 2019

Experiencing Financial Aid At A Historically White Institution: A Critical Race Analysis, Liane I. Hypolite, Antar A. Tichavakunda

Journal of Student Financial Aid

While scholars have looked at the intersection of financial aid and various identities, little work has examined how, if at all, race and racism are imbued into financial aid in higher education using qualitative inquiry. This paper begins that work by using a Critical Race Theory lens to analyze how, in the seemingly colorblind structure and process of financial aid, race matters. Using interview data collected from 35 Black juniors and seniors at a selective, historically White institution (HWI), the authors examine how race has informed students’ perceptions of themselves, their families, and their futures through their experiences with financial …


Crushing Debt Or Savvy Strategy? Financial Literacy And Student Perceptions Of Their Student Loan Debt, Gail Markle Dec 2019

Crushing Debt Or Savvy Strategy? Financial Literacy And Student Perceptions Of Their Student Loan Debt, Gail Markle

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Almost three quarters of American college students use loans to fund their college education, although according to public discourse student debt is a critical problem. Grounded in social reproduction theory and consumer socialization theory this study examines the influence of financial literacy on students’ college financing decisions, perceptions of student loan debt, and education-related behavior. A sample of 429 undergraduate students selected using systematic cluster sampling from a large public university in the southeast completed a survey containing closed and open ended questions. Participants reported moderate levels of financial literacy (72.3%) and student loan awareness (62.7%). Only 20% of students …


Social Dimensions Of Student Debt: A Data Mining Analysis, Dirk Witteveen, Paul Attewell Oct 2019

Social Dimensions Of Student Debt: A Data Mining Analysis, Dirk Witteveen, Paul Attewell

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Media commentary on undergraduates' loan debt portrays a crisis in which many students are unable to pay back their loans, having borrowed large sums and lacking sufficient post-college income to repay. Several scholars have questioned the media accounts, noting that indebtedness is highest among students from high income families, while defaults predominate among low debt students. Using a data mining technique known as CART, we analyze national data on the indebtedness of recent baccalaureate graduates, to uncover combinations of social characteristics that are associated with loan pressure: the ratio of indebtedness to post-college earnings. We find that students from lower …


Take It, Or Leave It? Analyzing How Unsubsidized Federal Loans Affect Six-Year Degree Attainment Across Income Groups, Ray Franke Jul 2019

Take It, Or Leave It? Analyzing How Unsubsidized Federal Loans Affect Six-Year Degree Attainment Across Income Groups, Ray Franke

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This study examined the effects of unsubsidized federal Stafford loans on six-year degree attainment at 4-year colleges and universities in the U.S., and how these differentially impact students across income groups. For this, nationally representative data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS:04/09) and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) was merged to analyze N=6,561 students attending n=651 four-year institutions. To account for possible selection bias in loan borrowing and the nested data structure, this study employs a propensity score matching, multilevel modeling approach. In addition to financial aid measures, the analytic model draws from the heterogeneous research approach and …


Investing In Education: Impact Of Student Financial Stress On Self-Reported Health, Stephen Poplaski, Randy Kemnitz, Cliff A. Robb Jun 2019

Investing In Education: Impact Of Student Financial Stress On Self-Reported Health, Stephen Poplaski, Randy Kemnitz, Cliff A. Robb

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Through the lens of Human Capital theory, the role of financial aid (both amount and type) is explored in the context of student financial stress, and ultimately general student health. Data are taken from a sample of 232 students from a major Midwestern university who were surveyed about their financial attitudes, behavior and knowledge. The presence and amount of federal loans was associated with self-reported financial stress, and the validated stress measure was further associated with students’ self-reported health. A number of personal life events (i.e. job loss) were also associated with higher stress levels. Implications are discussed.


College Student Debt And Anticipated Repayment Difficulty, Jonathan J. Fox, Suzanne Bartholomae, Jodi C. Letkiewicz, Catherine P. Montalto Aug 2017

College Student Debt And Anticipated Repayment Difficulty, Jonathan J. Fox, Suzanne Bartholomae, Jodi C. Letkiewicz, Catherine P. Montalto

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This study analyzes factors associated with anticipated difficulty with repayment of debt accumulated during college using a basic model of credit risk that includes socialization processes influencing college student financial decisions. The empirical analysis uses data from the 2010 Ohio Student Financial Wellness Study. Results provide evidence of male overconfidence in financial decision making, as males are less likely than females to predict repayment difficulties. Socialization process variables, including financial management practices, financial parenting communication, and expected economic returns from education, are strongly associated with anticipated debt repayment difficulty. Inclusion of these process variables in the model results in loss …


A Trillion-Dollar Question: What Predicts Student Loan Delinquencies?, Alvaro Mezza, Kamila Sommer Dec 2016

A Trillion-Dollar Question: What Predicts Student Loan Delinquencies?, Alvaro Mezza, Kamila Sommer

Journal of Student Financial Aid

The recent significant increase in student loan delinquencies has generated interest in understanding the key factors predicting the non-performance of these loans. However, despite the large size of the student loan market, existing analyses have been limited by lack of data. This paper studies predictors of student loan delinquencies using a nationally representative panel data set that anonymously combines individual credit bureau records with Federal Pell Grant and federal student loan recipient information, records on college enrollment, graduation and major, and school characteristics. We show that borrower-level credit characteristics are important predictors of student loan delinquencies. In particular, credit scores …


Factors That Affect Willingness To Borrow Student Loans Among Community College Students, Kathleen K. Menges, Christoph Leonhard Aug 2016

Factors That Affect Willingness To Borrow Student Loans Among Community College Students, Kathleen K. Menges, Christoph Leonhard

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Research suggests that student loan borrowing has increased at the community college level. This trend is worrisome to many, as research is inconclusive regarding whether loans are positively correlated with achieving a college degree. Many also contend that choosing not to borrow a student loan due to loan aversion can negatively impact a student’s chance of reaping the financial benefits of a college degree. This study surveyed three community colleges in the Midwest to better understand how acculturation, time perspective, and financial literacy impact community college students’ willingness to borrow student loans. Except for financial literacy, none of the variables …


Using A Merit-Based Scholarship Program To Increase Rates Of College Enrollment In An Urban School District: The Case Of The Pittsburgh Promise, Robert Bozick, Gabriella Gonzalez, John Engberg Jul 2015

Using A Merit-Based Scholarship Program To Increase Rates Of College Enrollment In An Urban School District: The Case Of The Pittsburgh Promise, Robert Bozick, Gabriella Gonzalez, John Engberg

Journal of Student Financial Aid

The Pittsburgh Promise is a scholarship program that provides $5,000 per year toward college tuition for public high school graduates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who earned a 2.5 GPA and a 90% attendance record. This study used a difference-in-difference design to assess whether the introduction of the Promise scholarship program directly influenced changes in rates of college enrollment among students graduating from Pittsburgh public high schools in years immediately following the launch of the program. Becker’s (1964) standard human capital investment model, which predicts that youth make cost-benefit calculations to guide their college enrollment decisions, provides the framework for the analysis. …


Do You Know What You Owe? Students' Understanding Of Their Student Loans, Emily A. Andruska, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Gregory R. Forbes, Darin R. Wohlgemuth Nov 2014

Do You Know What You Owe? Students' Understanding Of Their Student Loans, Emily A. Andruska, Jeanne M. Hogarth, Cynthia Needles Fletcher, Gregory R. Forbes, Darin R. Wohlgemuth

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Using a data set that augments a student survey with administrative data from the Iowa State University Office of Financial Aid, the authors posed two questions: Do students know whether they have student loans? Do students know how much they owe on outstanding student loans? We used logistic and ordered logit regressions to answer these questions. Results suggest that although the majority of students are aware that they owe on student loans, many underestimate the amount they owe. One eighth of students in the current study reported no student debt when, in fact, they had a loan. Over a quarter …


Book Review: Why Does College Cost So Much?, Edward J. Smith, Brian A. Sponsler Jul 2014

Book Review: Why Does College Cost So Much?, Edward J. Smith, Brian A. Sponsler

Journal of Student Financial Aid

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Undergraduates With Employer-Sponsored Aid: Comparing Group Differences, Dagney G. Faulk, Zhenlei Wang Jan 2014

Undergraduates With Employer-Sponsored Aid: Comparing Group Differences, Dagney G. Faulk, Zhenlei Wang

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Tuition assistance offered by employers is an understudied area of financial aid research. The purpose of this study is to compare the demographic, socioeconomic, academic and financial aid characteristics of college students who receive employer-sponsored financial aid with students who receive traditional financial aid (institutional, state, or federal) and those that receive no aid at public 4-year universities. Using the 2007-08 data from the undergraduate National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08), we find that there are statistically significant differences between students who receive employer-sponsored aid and those who do not. Students receiving employer aid are older, are more likely to …