"What Is That!?!?!" How Students' Feelings About Tuition and Fees Affect Their Success

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Student Success Perspectives

Abstract

Tuition and fees continue to increase as higher education institutions try to lessen the financial burden due to losses in state support. However, we know little about how students feel about cost increases, and how these experiences may shape their success. Additionally, some students, like first-generation students, may experience the same costs differently. Some factors, though, like knowledge of fees, attitudes towards fees, and academic capital, may mediate students’ feelings about costs. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that mediate how students’ feel about their tuition and fee costs, and subsequently how their feelings about costs might influence their engagement in fee-supported services designed to support their success.

Authors

• Emeka Ikegwuonu, Saint Cloud State University

• Lok-Sze Wong, University of North Texas