Do Undergraduate Funding Sources Matter for the Achievement of a Graduate Degree?

• In Event: 4318 - Higher Education: Students and Colleges

Abstract

During the recent three decades college tuition fees have soared, and individual students and their parents have coped with the growing financial difficulties. Previous studies suggested that the available college funding sources differentiated by family background lead to disparities in GPA and the degree completion at the undergraduate level. However, despite the increasing importance of graduate education, the association between college funding sources and the likelihood of obtaining a graduate degree has been rarely studied. Using 2013, 2015, and 2017 National Survey of College Graduates data, we conduct the latent class analysis about the sources of tuition payment and find three distinctive groups: One enjoys family contributions with the low probabilities of using other funding sources (i.e., the family-funded); another utilizes diverse funding sources including family contributions, student loans, grants, and personal earnings (i.e., the multisource-seeking); and the other heavily rely upon student loans instead of other funding sources (i.e., the loan-dependent). Our results show that the family-funded group is more likely than the loan-dependent group to earn an advanced degree, especially a PhD or a professional degree. The positive association between family contributions and the achievement of a graduate degree is more noticeable among upper-background students than among lower-background students. Differences by gender and the degree type are also reported.

Authors

• Byeongdon Oh, University of Kansas

• ChangHwan Kim, University of Kansas