The Nuanced Effects of Federal and Institutional Benefits and Academic Success Among Low-Income College Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Financing Student Success: From Promise Programs to Loan Reduction Initiatives (Table 7)

Abstract

Amid rising tuition costs and declining buying power of need-based financial aid, this study assesses the interplay among various types of financial support, including federal food stamps, campus aid, and institutional aid, and their effects on students' academic outcomes, such as GPAs and degree completion. Utilizing OLS and logistic regression alongside propensity score matching and bootstrap replicate weights, we assess the effect of federal aid on student success, leveraging the Beginning Postsecondary Students Study (BPS: 2012/17). We find and discuss the distinct and nuanced relationships between federal aid benefits and each of our outcomes, and the advantage of observing distinctions in year, amount, and additional aligned forms of financial supports, with implications for policy and for postsecondary campuses and families.

Authors

• Lara Perez-Felkner, Florida State University

• Zahra Gholami, Florida State University