File Type: cgi
College Proximity and College Costs: Is it More Expensive to College Proximity and College Costs: Is it More Expensive to Attend a Far-away College? Attend a Far-away College? (2024)
Many scholars have argued that it may be more costly to attend a far-away college than it is to attend a nearby college. If this is true, students who live in areas where colleges are few and far between may face higher costs than those with ample college options. This study assesses the plausibility of this line of reasoning by examining the association between geographic access to higher education, distance traveled to college, and college costs, as indicated by student debt. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, this study finds that people with lower levels of geographic access travel longer distances to attend college. In addition, people who travel longer distances are more likely to accumulate student debt. Finally, this study finds suggestive evidence that people with lower levels of geographic access tend to accumulate more student debt. These descriptive insights pave the way for future research on this topic. Ultimately, additional research in this area could be one of the keys to understanding and ultimately remedying geographic inequalities in postsecondary outcomes.
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.