Education Commons^™

The Role Of Student Debt And Debt Anxiety In College Student Financial Well-Being, Jill M. Norvilitis, Braden K. Linn

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This study examined predictors of three measures of financial well-being in 354 college students. Results suggest that perceptions of debt are important in understanding financial well-being, but these perceptions need to be considered alongside of individual differences in anxiety, optimism, and parental teaching. Further, regression analyses highlighted differences between predictors of perceived financial well-being and more and less frequent money saving behaviors, which may indicate different paths for intervention. Specifically, students reporting engaging in less common financial strain behaviors appear to have more objective financial difficulties, whereas students reporting more common financial strain behaviors report more factors that suggest difficulty …

(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 …

Higher Education: Can Debt Beat Savings?, David Stackpole

Journal of Student Financial Aid

This paper investigates the possible opportunity cost of using standard college savings plans against the advantages of using debt to pay for college. In addition, it presents a practical argument for using debt in place of college savings plans in certain instances.

By doing so, investors may not only be able to mitigate the difficulty of saving, but also realize greater financial benefit in the long run.

“I Always Felt Like I Belonged:” A Case Study On A First-Generation Focused Student Success Program And Sense Of Belonging, Stephanie Zobac

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study explored if and how a first-generation focused student success program fostered sense of belonging amongst first-generation college students. Utilizing the theoretical framework of sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2012), the following research questions guided this study: (1) How do first-generation students experience a first-generation focused student success program? (2) How do first-generation students experience sense of belonging when participating in a first-generation student success program, if at all? (3) How can institutional policies and practices, in the form of a first-generation student success program support the sense of belonging of first-generation students, if at all? Participants included …

Analyzing Advanced Placement (Ap): Making The Nation's Most Prominent College Preparatory Program More Equitable, David Naff, Mitchell Parry, Tomika Ferguson, Virginia Palencia, Jenna Lenhardt, Elisa Tedona, Antionette Stroter, Theodore Stripling, Zoey Lu, Elizabeth Baber

MERC Publications

This report from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores research related to Advanced Placement (AP) courses through an equity lens. It answers five questions: 1) What are AP classes? 2) Who enrolls and succeeds in AP classes? 3) Why do disparities in AP matter? 4) What factors contribute to disparities in AP participation and performance? 5) What policies and practices help to address disparities in AP access, enrollment, and performance? The report comes from the MERC Equitable Access and Support for Advanced Coursework study.

A Qualitative Study Of First-Generation African American And Latinx College Students’ Experiences In College, Fanny Meyer Ballard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-generation college student (FGCS) can be defined as students from families in which their parents did not earn a four-year degree. An increasing number of FGCS enroll in college each year. However, first-generation African American and Latinx students are faced with challenges attending a four-year institution of higher learning. For this reason, pre-college programs like the Upward Bound program provide support, resources, and guidance to help prepare FGCS for college. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how African American and Latinx FGCS in the Upward Bound program describe their college experiences and factors contributing to their …

“It Sucks, But I’M Grateful”: Understanding The Experience Of Autistic Students Living In The Residence Halls, Mary F. Elliott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As populations of Autistic students at institutions of higher education increases, it is becoming more important for institutions to evaluate their programs with these students in mind. While the Autistic population has grown, policies and services on campuses have not become more inclusive or supportive of this population as a response. This evaluation examines the Residential Learning Model, the guide through which the residential life program at one institution of higher education is delivered to the students living in the residence halls. Through the lens of the Autistic students and the student staff who live and work in the residence …