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Full-Text Articles in Education
“I Don’T Even Know What That Is”: Deprivation, Censorship, And Responsibility In Administering The Pell Grant In Prison, Erin L. Castro, Cydney Y. Caradonna, Mary R. Gould
“I Don’T Even Know What That Is”: Deprivation, Censorship, And Responsibility In Administering The Pell Grant In Prison, Erin L. Castro, Cydney Y. Caradonna, Mary R. Gould
Journal of Student Financial Aid
The violence of incarceration creates greater responsibility for higher education administrators in supporting students who are in prison. Using focus group data with incarcerated students and formerly incarcerated alumni who participated in or are actively participating in Second Chance Pell, we explore their perceptions and understandings of the Pell Grant and eligibility for the Pell Grant, including lifetime eligibility used limits. Through a lens of Witnessing, we argue that deprivation and censorship of information negatively influence students’ access to accurate and timely information about federal student aid and their ability to fully participate in the process. Accordingly, college and university …
Indebted To My Education: Examining College Graduates’ Perceptions Of Student Loan Repayment, Vincent D. Carales, Mauricio Molina
Indebted To My Education: Examining College Graduates’ Perceptions Of Student Loan Repayment, Vincent D. Carales, Mauricio Molina
Journal of Student Financial Aid
In this paper, we examine college graduates’ perceptions of entering student loan repayment and how they navigated this process. Findings highlight the importance of helping students make informed borrowing decisions, particularly as they begin repaying their student loan debt. Policy makers wishing to hold institutions accountable for keeping college affordable while enhancing financial aid policy will gain further insight.
Predicting International Student Enrollment By Institutional Aid: A Random And Fixed Effects Approach, Daniel C. Posmik
Predicting International Student Enrollment By Institutional Aid: A Random And Fixed Effects Approach, Daniel C. Posmik
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Since the fall semester of 2016, first-time international student enrollment (ISEft) has declined at U.S. colleges and universities. This trend disrupts a steady upwards trajectory of ISEft rates. Previous research has demonstrated that various political, social, and macroeconomic factors influence the number of international students studying in the U.S. Exploiting data from the Common Data Set (CDS), I focus on the role financial aid plays as an enrollment predictor for international undergraduate students. A fixed effects model reveals that financial aid is strongly and significantly predictive of ISEft, yielding a 1.8% enrollment increase per 10% …
Is The Early Promise Of Money Enough? Examining High School Students’ College Knowledge And Choice In A Promise Scholarship Program, Tangela Reavis
Is The Early Promise Of Money Enough? Examining High School Students’ College Knowledge And Choice In A Promise Scholarship Program, Tangela Reavis
Journal of Student Financial Aid
This study is part of a randomized control trial examining the results of a promise scholarship program, the Degree Project (TDP). Half of the ninth graders in one Midwestern urban school district were notified about a $12,000 promise scholarship offer if they met certain GPA and attendance requirements (2.5 GPA and 90% attendance). This analysis draws on interview data to understand students’ financial knowledge over four years (grades 9-12). The study examined how treatment students (those who were offered the scholarship) and control students (those who were not offered the scholarship) explained and understood the methods they intended to use …
Fafsa And Beyond: How Advisers Manage Their Administrative Burden In The Financial Aid Process, Meredith S. Billings, Ashley B. Clayton, Rachel Worsham
Fafsa And Beyond: How Advisers Manage Their Administrative Burden In The Financial Aid Process, Meredith S. Billings, Ashley B. Clayton, Rachel Worsham
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Access to financial aid is crucial in ensuring that students can afford college. Students must file the FAFSA to access federal financial aid and usually the FAFSA is also required for state and institutional aid (U.S. Department of Education, n.d). Prior research has shown, however, that the FAFSA is complicated and burdensome to complete and often acts as a barrier instead of an entry point to college (Bettinger et al., 2012; Bird & Castleman, 2016; Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2006, 2008; Dynarski et al., 2013). Given these barriers in accessing aid, some high schools employ college advisers or other school staff …
The Lasting Effects Of The Pandemic On Graduate And Professional Education, Robert Kelchen
The Lasting Effects Of The Pandemic On Graduate And Professional Education, Robert Kelchen
Journal of Student Financial Aid
The coronavirus pandemic caused a shift in the American higher education system. Many institutions switched from in-person to virtual platforms. Since graduate and professional students are more likely than undergraduate students to enroll in a hybrid or online program, they were less affected by the transition to online education. However, the decrease in undergraduate enrollment during the pandemic further squeezed institutional finances showing a decline in international graduate enrollment in the United States. As universities place additional scrutiny on program finances, departments will face pressure to reduce the number of assistantships that are not supported by external grants and contracts, …
Centering The Marginalized: The Impact Of The Pandemic On Online Student Retention, Joshua Travis Brown, Joseph M. Kush, Frederick A. Volk
Centering The Marginalized: The Impact Of The Pandemic On Online Student Retention, Joshua Travis Brown, Joseph M. Kush, Frederick A. Volk
Journal of Student Financial Aid
During the pandemic, much of the focus of administrators and scholars has been on its impact on residential students and the sudden shift to online instruction. While justified, researchers have yet to focus on online students—who often represent marginalized communities in higher education—to ask whether they were impacted by factors related to the pandemic other than the modality shift. In this study, we examined how the first-year retention of online students was affected during the pandemic, and whether it differed from first-year residential students who transitioned online. We examined records of two student cohorts (Fall 2017 and Fall 2019) from …
The Impacts Of Covid-19 On The Experiences Of Students With Basic Needs Insecurity: Evidence From A National Survey, Allyson Cornett, Carla Fletcher
The Impacts Of Covid-19 On The Experiences Of Students With Basic Needs Insecurity: Evidence From A National Survey, Allyson Cornett, Carla Fletcher
Journal of Student Financial Aid
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected college students’ basic needs, financial security, academic success, caregiving responsibilities, mental health, and more, according to the Fall 2020 Student Financial Wellness Survey (SFWS) conducted by Trellis Company. Researchers surveyed 37,936 students at 62 two- and four-year colleges and universities from October to November 2020 and found 53 percent (n=20,095) indicated one or more forms of basic needs insecurity (BNI). This brief examines data from students with BNI with a special lens on their mental health, familial responsibilities and finances, employment, and financial security. These results highlight the disparate impacts of the pandemic among basic …
Who Do College Students Turn To For Financial Aid And Student Loan Advice, And Is It Advice Worth Following?, Casandra E. Harper, Lisa Scheese, Enyu Zhou, Rajeev Darolia
Who Do College Students Turn To For Financial Aid And Student Loan Advice, And Is It Advice Worth Following?, Casandra E. Harper, Lisa Scheese, Enyu Zhou, Rajeev Darolia
Journal of Student Financial Aid
In this article, we examine the sources of information that college students turn to as they make decisions related to financial aid and student loans. Based on interview data from 25 undergraduate students from one public, four-year institution, our results reveal a great amount of variation in the number and nature of sources on which students rely. Across nearly all cases, students believed their access to assistance to be insufficient. This was true even for students with parents who attended college—commonly considered to be a high-quality source of support for students, when available—as students often found their advice outdated, confusing, …
Hidden Inequality: Financial Aid Information Available To College Students With Disabilities Attending Public Four-Year Institutions, Emily L. Perlow, Ryan S. Wells, Mujtaba Hedayet, Jenny Xia, Heather Maclean, Emily Ding, Angela Mccall
Hidden Inequality: Financial Aid Information Available To College Students With Disabilities Attending Public Four-Year Institutions, Emily L. Perlow, Ryan S. Wells, Mujtaba Hedayet, Jenny Xia, Heather Maclean, Emily Ding, Angela Mccall
Journal of Student Financial Aid
College students with disabilities often encounter systems and processes that do not serve them well. Financial aid, structured in ways that can be particularly burdensome to students with disabilities, is one such system. This study used web-based content analysis of the largest public four-year institution in each state to explore how institutions explain and provide information and resources related to financial aid and whether they are equitable, consistent, and useful for students with disabilities specifically. The findings suggest that available information most often does not assist students in understanding how their disability-related needs can be supported or hindered by financial …
Factors Associated With Parent And Student Debt Of Bachelor’S Degree Recipients, Robert Kelchen
Factors Associated With Parent And Student Debt Of Bachelor’S Degree Recipients, Robert Kelchen
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Parent PLUS loans are a growing concern due to their limited income-driven repayment protections and their potential to maintain longstanding racial wealth gaps. Previous research has examined factors associated with student debt burdens of college graduates, but no research has examined factors related to parent borrowing for college. In this brief, I use newly-released College Scorecard data to explore student and institutional characteristics associated with federal student loans and Parent PLUS loans of two recent bachelor’s degree cohorts. I find meaningful differences in how certain characteristics are associated with student and parent debt, particularly gender, family income, and institutional selectivity.
Money Matters: Factors Associated With Receipt Of Financial Aid Among Youth Who Have Experienced Foster Care, Jacob P. Gross, Jennifer M. Geiger, Greg King, Samuel King
Money Matters: Factors Associated With Receipt Of Financial Aid Among Youth Who Have Experienced Foster Care, Jacob P. Gross, Jennifer M. Geiger, Greg King, Samuel King
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Despite high aspirations, youth formerly in foster care may face significant barriers (e.g., academic preparedness, adult mentoring) to obtaining a postsecondary credential. Better understanding the relationship between affordability and postsecondary access for youth formerly in foster care (YFFC) merits attention from researchers because finances often present a barrier to success for this population of students. This exploratory study asks the question: What factors influenced whether YFFC received financial aid and do those factors change over time? Using event history analysis and national longitudinal on foster care and youth outcomes, we explore what factors impact whether a YFFC receives financial aid.
(De)Glossing Financial Aid: Do Colleges And Universities Actually Use Financial Student Aid Jargon?, Zachary W. Taylor, Laura Manor
(De)Glossing Financial Aid: Do Colleges And Universities Actually Use Financial Student Aid Jargon?, Zachary W. Taylor, Laura Manor
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Decades of research has suggested that completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be a complex, difficult process for postsecondary students and their support networks. However, no extant research has informed federal student aid practitioners and researchers as to what federal student aid jargon terms institutions of higher education actually use in their application instructions to complete the FAFSA. To fill this gap in the research, this study adopts a distributional linguistic approach to analyze a random sample of federal student aid application instructions published on institutional websites (.edu) over three years (2017, 2018, and 2019) to …
Estimating The Spillover Effects Of The Tennessee Promise: Exploring Changes In Tuition, Fees, And Enrollment, Elizabeth Bell
Estimating The Spillover Effects Of The Tennessee Promise: Exploring Changes In Tuition, Fees, And Enrollment, Elizabeth Bell
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Tuition-free college policies have gained momentum since the implementation of the Tennessee Promise, which provides financial aid to students pursuing two-year post-secondary degrees in Tennessee. While previous research has addressed the effects of similar programs on student outcomes, scholars have yet to thoroughly investigate potential spillover effects of Promise policies on colleges that are ineligible for Promise funds. In this paper, I leverage a difference-in-differences design to explore changes in enrollment and tuition and fees at institutions eligible and ineligible for Tennessee Promise funds. First, I find that in-state enrollment increased significantly at public Promise eligible institutions (mainly public two-year …
Does The House Always Win? An Analysis Of Barriers To Wealth Building And College Borrowing, Katherine E. Fletcher, Matthew B. Fuller
Does The House Always Win? An Analysis Of Barriers To Wealth Building And College Borrowing, Katherine E. Fletcher, Matthew B. Fuller
Journal of Student Financial Aid
The racial differences in student loan debt must be interpreted through a lens of wealth building inequality. Black individuals in particular are negatively affected by official and unofficial policies that create barriers to building wealth. Financial aid policies then exacerbate this inequality with an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) formula that protects the majority of family assets from being used as required educational contributions. Using the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey (NPSAS:12) , we examined differences in student loan debt based on wealth building barriers (students’ access to banks, father’s education, and mother’s education). Our ANOVA models show cumulative loan …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …