Federal Financial Aid and Its Merit Component: Examining Effects of the Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements

• In Event: 44.084 - Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: 44.084-18 - Tuition and Aid Policies: How State and Federal Policy Shapes Students and Institutions

Abstract

The federal SAP policy defines satisfactory academic progress and establishes eligibility criteria for student financial aid. This paper examines how many students are currently affected by SAP, whether differences exist for different groups, and whether it affects persistence for low-income and first-generation students navigating a complicated and oftentimes confusing process. Preliminary naïve estimations, based on longitudinal, institutional data from two 4-year colleges in the Northeast, show that students not meeting SAP have significantly lower odds (odds ratio=.673, p<.000) of persisting into the next year. This effect size is similar to recent, previous research (Schudde & Clayton, 2014), underscoring both the potentially detrimental effect of the policy on student retention and degree attainment and the need for further research.

Authors

• Ray Franke, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Jesus Montoya