scholarly journals Can Simplifying Financial Aid Offers Impact College Enrollment and Borrowing? Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Ochs Rosinger
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
College Level ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
College Outcomes ◽  
Underrepresented Minority Students ◽  
College Going ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Four Year Colleges ◽  
The Impact

Recent policy and research efforts have focused on simplifying the college-going process, improving transparency around college costs, and helping students make informed decisions. In 2012, the Obama administration released the “shopping sheet,” a standardized financial aid offer that is intended to provide students with simplified information about costs, loan options, and college outcomes. This paper examines the impact of the shopping sheet (adopted by more than 400 four-year colleges in two years) using: (1) administrative data from a field experiment among admitted and already-enrolled students at a public university, and (2) college-level data from a quasi-experiment among four-year colleges. Findings provide some evidence that information in the shopping sheet relating a college's graduation rate to other colleges led to decreased borrowing at colleges with poor graduation outcomes. Additionally, the shopping sheet decreased borrowing at colleges that enroll high shares of students receiving federal student aid and underrepresented minority students. These findings indicate the shopping sheet may be particularly salient to students who traditionally face higher informational barriers during the college-going process.

Federal Policy Efforts to Simplify College-Going: An Intervention in Community College Enrollment and Borrowing

2017 ◽  
Vol 671 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Ochs Rosinger
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Recent Effort ◽  
College Outcomes ◽  
College Costs ◽  
College Going ◽  
College Choices ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Informational Intervention ◽  
The Impact

Over the past decade, the federal government has made substantial efforts to simplify the college-going process and help students to evaluate college choices. These low-cost strategies aimed at improving college access and success by helping students to make informed decisions about college warrant assessment. This study examines the impact of a recent effort aimed at simplifying information that colleges provide to students about college costs, loan options, and college outcomes. Results from a quasi-experimental analysis indicate that the “informational intervention” in this study had limited influence on community college students’ enrollment and borrowing decisions. I discuss the limitations of this particular intervention and the potential impact that other related policy efforts designed to help students at various points in the college-going process may have.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study to See the Impact of Yoga on Educational Aspiration (EA) and Test Anxiety (TA) among College Going Girls

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patelia Shraddha ◽  
Dr Rathi Nanda
Keyword(s):  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Junior College ◽  
Educational Aspiration ◽  
College Level ◽  
College Going ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Paired T Test

A little bit of anxiety is normal; in fact, just like salt in the food, it is needed so that we remain disciplined, focused and aspired. The problem starts when this anxiety becomes so persistent as to start interfering with our daily life, and this is where yoga can help. The major aim of this research study was to explore the effect of yoga on educational aspiration and test anxiety of girls at the junior college level. A sample of 60 college going girls (age 17-18 years) was selected purposely from Nagpur, India. Data were collected by using the Educational Aspiration Scale (EAS) by V. P. Sharma and Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) developed by Sarason and Sarason. Student’s paired t-test was applied for data analysis. It was found that a significant difference exists between two groups. Results showed that practice of yoga in a day to day life contributes significant enhancement of educational aspiration and considerable reduction of test anxiety. Therefore, it was concluded that making yoga a part of one’s routine would help students in dealing with test anxiety and improving their aspiration towards education.

scholarly journals Work in Progress: Aligning What We Want With What We Seek: Increasing Comprehensive Review in the Graduate Admissions Process

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
La'Tonia Stiner-Jones ◽  
Wolfgang Windl
Keyword(s):  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Underrepresented Minority Students ◽  
Bridge Program ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

To improve the identification of students likely to complete a graduate degree, we sought to change our process and the way we evaluate students for admission. For this, we changed the application and review process to include an assessment of applicants’ non-cognitive variables based on Sedlacek’s work and the Fisk-Vanderbilt MS-PhD Bridge Program admissions model. In 2016, our Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Department piloted the incorporation of these changes. Consequently, MSE increased the enrollment of women and underrepresented minority students by 19% and 57%, respectively and we will be evaluating the impact of the changes on performance metrics and completion rates over time. Ahead of this application cycle, we have made changes to the applications of more of our graduate programs in the college. Most recently, we were asked to create a plan for the university. As changes continue, we will evaluate outcomes and impact within the college and across the university over time, which we hope will inform best practices for improving completion of graduate degrees and diversity of graduate programs.

scholarly journals Customized Nudging to Improve FAFSA Completion and Income Verification

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay C. Page ◽  
Benjamin L. Castleman ◽  
Katharine Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
Text Message ◽  
Social Benefit ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
College Matriculation ◽  
Behavioral Barriers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
College Financial Aid

Informational and behavioral barriers hinder social benefit take-up. We investigate the impact of mitigating these barriers through providing personalized information on benefits application status and application assistance on filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the gateway to college financial aid. Through a multidistrict experiment, we assess the impact of this outreach, delivered via text message. This data-driven strategy improves FAFSA completion and college matriculation and potentially reduces the negative consequences of additional procedural hurdles such as FAFSA income verification, required of approximately one third of filers nationally.

scholarly journals What Did Aid Administrators Perceive to Be the Impact of PPY on Students and Aid Offices?

10.28945/4269 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 001-025
Author(s):  
Valerie A Mockus
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Insight Into

Through the 2016-2017 academic year, student aid applicants completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid used the immediately previous year’s tax information. Beginning in 2017-2018, students were required to use two-year-old tax return information creating a lag in the timeliness of financial health data used to calculate financial aid eligibility. This older data is called Prior-Prior Year (PPY) by the aid community. Community members in support of the change expected college applicants to have more time to apply for aid and make decisions. Others articulated concerns that use of the older data would increase the likelihood of families requesting professional judgements (manually intensive calculations with more recent tax data), therefore significantly increasing the workload. Early detractors worried the older tax data would erode the accuracy of targeting aid to the right students. This pilot phenomenological study investigates how financial aid administrators perceive the impact of the switch to PPY on students and financial aid offices. The findings were: the volume of professional judgements did not appear to increase; the Department of Education’s choice to re-ask for 2016 tax information and penalize students with discrepancies by withholding aid disbursements was objectionable; the administrative burden is worrisome; college affordability is of great concern; administrators, never coming to a career financial aid intentionally, find their work deeply meaningful. This study finds the expected issue of an increased volume of PJs did not materialize but an unexpected issue of complying with comment code 399 requirements arose likely due to the Department of Education’s choice to not consult financial aid administrators during the design and implementation of PPY. As the first phenomenological study on PPY, this article provides administrators and researchers alike insight into opportunities for improvement in future FAFSA changes.

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