Using longitudinal college student (n=2,497) and parent data and interviews of a subsample (n=60), a study examined factors associated with parental savings for students' postsecondary education. Results suggest that socioeconomic status, student educational aspirations, and the extent to which parents think they will need outside financial help…

This report examines the college aspirations and decisionmaking factors gathered from 53 interviews with Black, female, college-bound students, their parents, friends, college counselors, teachers, and school staff. The goal was to reveal how the students' lives and their access to postsecondary education have been framed and structured by the…

A study of families' means of paying for college using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study strongly indicates that part of the process of deciding how students should pay for college is the parents' college financing experience. These effects appear in patterns in parent contribution, amount of financial aid received, and use of…

The central purpose of this study was to identify factors that increase the likelihood that high school seniors will plan to attend a four-year college, paying particular attention to variables that are associated with college attendance by low-income students. Logistic regression was applied to data from three sources: telephone interviews with…

A path analysis of the relationship of student background, precollege academic factors, occupational and educational aspirations, institutional characteristics, college performance, and financial assistance to student persistence found that students receiving aid were more likely than others to complete their degrees, and that aid has the third…