Toward the Education Nation? Revisiting the Impact of Financial Aid, College Experience, and Institutional Context on Baccalaureate Degree Attainment for Low Income Students

Presented at:
AERA 2014 Annual Meeting
April 3, 2014

Ray Franke, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Abstract

Assessing financial aid-related influences for low-income students, this study finds that need-based grants from all sources increase chances to complete a degree within six years, whereas unsubsidized (federal) loans are found to drastically lower chances to obtain a degree. More specifically, federal grant aid is found to increase the chances for low-income students to graduate between 2.52% and 2.82% for every $1,000 in additional aid, the largest positive financial aid factor. Effects for state need-based grants are only marginally smaller, increasing the likelihood to graduate between 2.40% and 2.59%. For an additional $1,000 in institutional needbased grants, results show that students have a 1.31% to 1.62% higher chance to obtain a baccalaureate degree. Interestingly, merit grant aid from state or institutional sources and other/outside grants are not found significant in the estimation.

Read the full paper