Understanding the Role of State and Local Context in Shaping Low-Income Student Persistence

• In Event: 46.035 - Persistence, Debt, and Degrees: Barriers and Supports to Degree Attainment

Abstract

This study uses a phenomenological approach to better understand how 54 students from low-income families attending one of three different universities in Chicago used financial aid and other resources to persist beyond the first year of their bachelor's degree programs. Findings suggest that students’ individual characteristics, state and federal financial aid policy, and institutional structuring of financial aid have an impact on the students’ ability to remain enrolled.

Author

• Jamey Rorison, Institute for Higher Education Policy