Document Tag: financial aid

Completion Grants: A Multi-Method Examination of Institutional Practice (2021)

Public universities are intent on increasing degree completion for many reasons. A stronger policy focus on completion and interest in removing students’ financial hurdles has led to a rapid proliferation of completion grant programs. This paper reports on a mixed method implementation study of completion grant programs at seven broad- and open-access universities. Drawing on case studies of completion grant programs and student surveys, we examine the work of the administrators and professionals who create and implement these programs. As it can diminish program efficacy and increase inequality, we pay particular attention to administrative burden for staff and students. We consider how the implementation of completion grant programs vary and how these variations are associated with administrative burden. We also analyze the drivers of variation in that administrative burden, and describe model elements for administering completion grants that aim to minimize administrative burden and maximize efficacy.

Should community college be free? Education Next talks with Sara Goldrick-Rab and Andrew P. Kelly (2016)

President Obama’s proposal for tuition-free community college, issued earlier this year, seems to have laid down a marker for the Democratic Party. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is touting his plan for free four-year public college on the primary trail; Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren called for “debt-free college” in a high-profile speech; and former senator and U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has proposed her own plans for tuition-free community college and “no-loan” tuition at four-year public colleges. In this forum, Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of a paper that helped shape the president’s plan, calls for an even more expansive effort-one that includes funding for students’ living and other expenses while they pursue an associate degree at any public institution. Andrew Kelly, director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the Obama plan will not address low rates of college readiness and student success but will strain public budgets and crowd out innovation.

5 Things We Learned from Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab (2019)

During College Possible Philadelphia’s Champions for College Completion event on May 16, Executive Director Jen Weikert sat down with event honoree Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab to discuss her work and her perspective on some important topics affecting higher education. Here are five things we learned from their conversation.

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – Testimony (2013)

Testimony of Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin Educational Policy Studies & Sociology Senior Scholar, Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Education Director, Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study Prepared for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions United States Senate Hearing on “The Challenge of College Affordability: The Student Lens” April 16, 2013

Financial Need and Aid Volatility among Students with Zero Financial Need and Aid Volatility among Students with Zero Expected Family Contribution Expected Family Contribution (2015)

Students with a zero expected family contribution (EFC), as calculated using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), are those with the greatest financial need and least ability to pay for college, and they now make up more than one in three U.S. undergraduate students. Yet little is known about the year-to-year financial aid volatility of these students, or whether it varies by how the zero EFC was determined. This paper uses nationally representative data to examine trends in zero-EFC receipt over time and then use studentlevel data from nine colleges and universities to examine zero-EFC stability over multiple years by zero-EFC status. The results indicate overall stability in zero-EFC receipt across multiple years; about eight in ten students with a zero EFC keeps that status one year later. However, this masks a great deal of heterogeneity among zero-EFC recipients by dependency and FAFSA filing statuses. These differences have significant policy implications for allocating scarce financial aid dollars.

Seeking STEM: The Causal Impact of Need-Based Grant Aid on Undergraduates’ Field of Study (2023)

ABSTRACT
Increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees is a national priority and one way to promote the socioeconomic mobility of students from low-income families. Prior research examining why students do not complete STEM majors often points to students’ lack of academic preparation, preferences for non-STEM majors, or lack of information about the value of STEM. This paper uses a randomized experiment to investigate an alternative explanation, that some students lack the financial resources to succeed in demanding majors. In a control group of university students from low-income families, 18.6% of students had declared a STEM major by their third year of college. In a treatment group who were offered additional need-based grant aid upon entering college, 26.5% of students declared a STEM major. Among students who had graduated within six years after entering college, 12.2% of control group graduates had earned a STEM degree compared to 20.2% of treatment group students. Need-based grants thus appear to have the potential to increase the share of low-income students studying and earning degrees in STEM.

The Price of STEM Success: The Impact of Need-Based Financial Aid on STEM Production (2021)

This study investigates whether financial grants, allocated based on need rather than major, improves odds that economically vulnerable students will pursue science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM) degrees. We implemented a privately-funded financial aid program in Wisconsin and conducted a randomized experiment of its effects for low and moderate-income students at 10 two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The additional financial support greatly increased the probability that students would persist in pursuing a STEM major and/or switch to a STEM major by the third year of school. However, it did not change the odds that students would remain enrolled. Implications for educational opportunity, practice, and policy are discussed.