Verifying Verification: Which Student Characteristics Predict Financial Aid Verification?

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Fourteen
  In Roundtable Session: Unchartered: First-Generation Experiences, Financial Aid, and Navigating the Academy (Table 9)

Abstract

Decades of research has suggested that being selected for financial aid verification is a major hurdle that certain college students experience on their pathway toward receiving financial aid and attending an institution of higher education. This study engages with a large data set from a financial aid office (n~6,800 students) from a large R1 University and finds that students who are lower-income and receive Pell Grants are more likely to be selected for verification and are less likely to persist through the verification process, marginalizing these students and risking their eligibility for aid and persistence at their institution.

Authors

• Justin Lamar Bryant, Prairie View A&M University
  Presenting Author

• Zach Taylor, University of Southern Mississippi
  Presenting Author