The United States has widely experimented with merit-based financial aid to make college more accessible and affordable for its youth. Varying in design and benefits, these state-run programs subsidize college costs for academically meritorious high-school graduates. While broadly linked to higher college attendance the distribution of aid…

This study empirically examines different factors that influence students to select universities in the UAE. The primary data were collected based on a survey of students at two public universities -- United Arab Emirates University and Zayed University, as well as three private universities -- New York University, Abu Dhabi University, and Alain…

Harris-Stowe State University is a relatively small university located in Missouri's largest metropolitan area. Yet the students at Harris-Stowe are clearly different from the students at the other eleven Missouri public universities. The student body of Harris-Stowe is predominantly African American, over 85 percent. Harris-Stowe State University…

This paper examines how colleges respond to the introduction of broad merit aid programs. Previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on enrollment, student choices, and post-matriculation outcomes. Yet much less is known about how state-implemented merit aid programs affect colleges' financial decisions. To explore impacts, college…

In an era of billions of dollars in outstanding student loan debt, researchers have posited that the U.S. News & World Report rankings continue to be an influential source of information for prospective students, yet these rankings do not include college affordability metrics in their ranking algorithm. As a result, this study performed a…

Background: Most community college students from low-income families have ambitious educational degree goals, but only a small fraction attains them. For many decades, sociologists have primarily attributed this problem to a cooling out process in which college practitioners diminish students' educational ambitions using academic reorientation…

In this study, I exploit exogenous differences in institutional policies regarding the treatment of home equity in grant aid allocation to estimate a causal impact of institutional grant aid on college choice. Because institutional grant aid is typically not awarded randomly, the college-estimated home equity value serves as an instrumental…

With the notable shift from grants to loans over the past several decades, many researchers have argued the positive impact of financial aid on student college choice, enrollment, and persistence. However, literature indicates that students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to take loans to finance postsecondary education…

A college degree is often the key to jumpstarting a career. And data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) consistently show that workers who have a college degree earn more than workers who don't. Not surprisingly, a college education is increasingly popular. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Education National Center for…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influenced the college choice process for high-achieving, low-income African American students, and to understand the effect of the Gates Millennium Scholarship on their college choice. Drawing from the Gates Millennium Scholar Tracking Database, a College Choice Survey, and the Integrated…

One sees various efforts in developed as well as in developing economies to seek a greater participation of lower-income students in their nation's leading universities. Once lower-income students do enroll in a highly selective institution, what happens to them? How well do they do academically when compared to their more wealthy counterparts?…

In an effort to help reverse a decades-long decline in the number of top students entering seminaries, the Lilly Endowment invited colleges to compete for grants to be used for three related purposes: (1) to help students explore the relationship between faith and work; (2) to encourage talented students to consider entering Christian ministry;…

A study of the influence of reduced state grants on students' decisions to remain at the same college, transfer, or withdraw from college found only a slight relationship between reduced aid and enrollment changes, with most students staying at the same school. (MSE)

Reports on a new $17-million federal program that provides up to $10,000 annually to allow District of Columbia residents to pay lower, in-state tuition rates at any public college in the country. The program's rationale is the lack of low-cost public higher education options for District of Columbia residents. Criticism centers on provision of…

This study analyzed the impact of specific types of financial aid on students' college choice, with particular focus on racial differences. For overall student populations, the receipt of grants or a combination of grants with loans had a positive impact on attending first choice institutions. In contrast, having loans only had no significant…