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…

In this dissertation, I explore questions relating to estimating and framing college net pricing. In the first study, I measure variation in actual grant aid awards for students predicted by the federal template Net Price Calculator (NPC) to receive identical aid awards. Estimated aid derived from the federal template NPC accounts for 85 percent…

In 2004 and 2005, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education (Pell Institute), sponsored by the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE), published two editions of "Indicators of Opportunity in Higher Education." In 2015, the commitment to documenting trends in higher education equity was renewed by publishing…

We examine the impacts of being awarded a Cal Grant, among the most generous state merit aid programs. We exploit variation in eligibility rules using GPA and family income cutoffs that are ex ante unknown to applicants. Cal Grant eligibility increases degree completion by 2 to 5 percentage points in our reduced form estimates. Cal Grant also…

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in competency-based education, a learning modality which is mastery-based, self-paced and focused on demonstrations of knowledge and skill rather than where or how they were attained (C-BEN, 2016; Cuckler, 2016; Tate & Klein-Collins, 2015; U.S. Department of Education, 2002). The face of higher…

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…

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…

The influence of institutional grant aid on the enrollment behavior of college students has been the focal point of several empirical studies during the past decade. Yet, the extent to which this multibillion dollar per year grant-allocation process influences the matriculation choices of students deciding between multiple institutions remains…

We use the random assignment of a private Wisconsin need-based grant to estimate the impacts of financial aid on college persistence among Pell Grant recipients at 13 public universities over three years. For equity and efficiency reasons, governments use conditional cash transfers to reduce the relationship between family income and college…

The effectiveness and efficiency of financial aid programs for providing equality of choice between public and private institutions are examined. (SF)

This paper examines some of the factors that affect the college choice of students from low-income families, specifically as it relates to college costs, and presents the results of a qualitative study on the factors that motivated the college attendance and choice of eight students from low-income families enrolled at a small, moderately…

The growing campus role in providing student financial aid is discussed based on data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Peterson's Guide, and other sources. The campus contribution to student aid programs has grown far more than recent tuition increases. A significant portion of the financial aid burden has passed from federal…

A total of 180 projects supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education under its 1979-80 Comprehensive Program are described. The Comprehensive Program is viewed as the core of the Fund's activities providing improved access and quality in postsecondary education by addressing a broad range of educational needs. Project…