Jacob P. K. Gross

Student Aid and Its Role in Encouraging Persistence

For more than 3 decades, scholars and practitioners have speculated on the extent to which financial aid increases the odds of students completing their degrees. While the impact of financial aid on persistence has been studied a great deal, we know relatively little about the impact of aid on graduation. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the extant research on how student financial aid affects undergraduate student persistence and graduation. In this pursuit, 74 articles, chapters, and monographs published after 1990 were reviewed to shed light on (a) how the studies define student persistence and student financial aid, (b) the summative knowledge of the relative effects of grants and loans on within-year persistence, continuous enrollment, and graduation, (c) how the existing studies were able to untangle the effects of merit- and need-based aid, and (d) the effect of debt on student persistence.

Performance Funding in Higher Education: Do Financial Incentives Impact College Completions?.

In 2000, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education introduced a performance-based funding model aimed at increasing degree productivity among the state’s public colleges. This study examines how the new policy affected undergraduate degree completions. Using a difference-in-differences estimation strategy, results suggest the policy has not systematically increased degree completions within the state. With limited evidence of the policy’s effect, we conclude that this was an ineffective funding model in terms of its ability to increase college completions. Although we find modest impacts when compared against colleges in neighboring states, these impacts disappear when matched against similar colleges from other states.

Getting serious about institutional performance in student retention: Research‐based lessons on effective policies and practices

The Indiana Project on Academic Success and the College Board Pilot Study on Student Retention evaluated the effectiveness of a variety of approaches to student retention. The authors share empirically grounded insights gleaned from this research.

If Life Happened but a Degree Didn’t: Examining Factors That Impact Adult Student Persistence

Abstract Roughly half of all undergraduate students in the United States fail to persist to degree completion (American College Testing [ACT], 2010; Tinto, 1993; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). Adult students often have higher levels of attrition than traditional-age students (Justice & Dornan, 2001; Noel-Levitz, 2011). This study uses theoretical underpinnings from Bean and Metzner (1985) and Braxton, Hirschy, and McClendon (2004) to develop and apply a conceptual model of adult student persistence. We explore the effects of (1) student entry characteristics, (2) external (i.e., extra-institutional) environments, and (3) campus environments on adult students’ persistence. The context is a research-intensive, public, urban institution in the United States. We find that educational aspirations, institutional responsiveness, and familial encouragement play significant and positive roles in helping adult students remain enrolled and graduate.

Promoting or Perturbing Success: The Effects of Aid on Timing to Latino Students' First Departure from College

Using event history modeling, this study explored to what extent loans, grants, institutional aid, and work-study affect timing to first departure for Latino college students. The goal is to understand more about how aid promotes or perturbs success for Latino students as well as how those effects vary over time. Federal grants and targeted loans reduced likelihood of departure (attrition). Findings suggest that aid is a necessary but not sufficient condition for success.

Institutional Merit-Based Aid and Student Departure: A Longitudinal Analysis

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure.

Latino Associate Degree Completion: Effects of Financial Aid over Time.

Lack of financial resources to pay for postsecondary education—perceived and actual—has been cited as a barrier to student access and persistence, particularly for Latino students. This study investigates the following question: “To what extent does financial aid affect the educational attainment of Latinos enrolled in Associate’s degree programs, and how do these effects change over time?” We find receiving aid of any type was positively associated with degree completion, though the effect declined over time.

Context Matters: A Critical Consideration of Latina/o Student Success Outcomes Within Different Institutional Contexts:

This article examined the effect of elements within Latina/o students’ institutional context on Latina/o student success outcomes. Findings highlight the significant role institutional contexts play in Latina/o success. Specifically, it was found that student success was lower for students enrolled at regional campuses and campuses that serve high proportions of students of color and higher for students at campuses with higher proportion of faculty of color. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

How Community Colleges Can Help Prevent Financial Hardship Among Student Borrowers

The utilization of loans by community college students is a contentious issue. In this article we broadly examine issues related to borrowing by community college students, giving attention to how loans can help, as well as hinder, borrowers at these institutions. Despite increased rhetoric about the perceived student loan crisis, caution is warranted before jettisoning student loans as a tool for access and completion at community colleges. Instead, we suggest that a more nuanced approach, aimed at helping students understand and manage their loans, is in the best interest of students and the college. Our recommendations are intended to help community colleges increase the number of borrowers who earn a credential and reduce the number who default.