NCASFAA Fall Conference – November 1-4, 2015 1

The Relationships Among Financial Aid,

Enrollment Management, and Student Success

Anthony Jones, Appalachian State University

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Key Questions for Discussion• What effect does financial aid have on whether students

enroll? persist? complete?• What effect do the financial aid office’s many constituents (i.e.,

student, families, institution, taxpayer, donors, regulating agencies) have on functions and service?

• What are differences between/among sectors? For different types of students?

• What are our institutional, local, state, and national goals? What type of society do we want?

• What encompasses the path to college completion?

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Spectrum of College Access & Completion

Awareness & Information

Readiness & Preparation

Access & Choice

Persistence & Transfer

Success & Completion

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Key Assumptions/Recognitions• There are personal, social, financial, and economic benefits to

enrolling in and completing college. Individuals and society benefit from system that:

• Adequately prepares students to complete postsecondary coursework

• Enables entry to a postsecondary educational institution• Promotes successful progress to completion

• Several contextual factors affect participation in the spectrum, but for low-, moderate-, and even middle-income families, finances are a driving factor

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Key Assumptions/Recognitions• Financial aid affects who is in classroom, programs offered,

and type/quality of instruction and services• The educational purpose/mission has a business aspect• Assessment is upon us and is not going to diminish:

Attainment, completion, and graduation rates are increasingly used as proxies for “quality”

• Financial aid is a critical component of students enrolling and persisting to completion

• Federal, state, and regional policies are driving reliance on assessments and metrics

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Relationship between Financial Aidand Awareness & Readiness

• Knowledge of benefits of college are important to student’s (and family’s) motivation and efforts to prepare academically

• Knowledge of how to prepare for and pay for college• Awareness of the requirements to prepare academically• Awareness of funding options/programs available to pay for college• Awareness of the means and processes for obtaining funding to pay

for college

• Financial literacy and simplicity of information

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Relationship between Financial Aid and Access/Choice

• A student’s (and family’s) ability to pay for college is a long established principle affecting access (and choice)

• Such ability includes perceptions of the availability of financial aid, including desirable types of aid (i.e., grants/ scholarships vs. loans)

• Information about availability and types of financial aid affects those aspiring to and preparing for college

• Individuals from families with low incomes are more sensitive to tuition price and price increases

• Grants have been shown to be more effective at college participation than loans• Need-based aid programs help expand participation and attainment better than

merit-based aid program

• Financial aid affects who is in the classroom, which affects depth and breadth of diversity and quality

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Relationship between Financial Aid and Persistence & Completion

• Simply having filed the FAFSA is associated with higher odds of persisting from one term to the next, especially at comm. colleges

• Amount and type of aid can affect enrollment: Grants have been shown to be more effective at college participation than loans (although sub > unsub)

• Grants have large, positive effect for African-American and Latino students

• Modest on-campus employment positively associated with persistence

• Academic support services are critical to persistence, especially for students most at risk (SAP may be risk indicator)

• Transfer policies including cost information and financial aid policies and information yield stronger persistence and completion

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Nuances and Complexities• (Systems, policies, and processes) Integration of financial aid,

recruitment, academic support services, student services, curriculum, and instruction

• Institutional mission matters: Financial aid affects recruiting, retaining, projecting, shaping, defining, comprising, policy goals, quality, …

• How do organizational priorities and relationships affect service to students and organizational goals?

• In which division the financial aid office is housed can affect the institution’s emphasis on enrollment

• Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Business Affairs, …• Are organizational relationships formal, informal, both?

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Selected References & Resources• Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. (2008). Early & often: Designing a comprehensive system of financial aid

information. Washington, DC: Author.

• Baum, S., Ma, J., & Payea, K. (2013). Education pays 2013: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society. New York, NY: College Board.

• Baum, S., McPherson, M., & Steele, P. (Eds.). (2008). The effectiveness of student aid policies: What the research tells us. New York, NY: College Board.

• Carnevale, A. P., Rose, S.J., & Cheah, B. (2012). The college payoff: Education, occupations, lifetime earnings. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

• Chen, R., & DesJardins, S. (2010). Investigating the impact of financial aid on student drop-out risks: Racial and ethnic differences. Journal of Higher Education, 81(2), 179-208.

• College Board. (2014). Trends in college pricing 2014. New York, NY: Author.

• College Board. (2014). Trends in student aid 2014. New York, NY: Author.

• Conley, D.T. (2008). College knowledge: What it really takes for students to succeed and what we can do to get them ready. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

• Goldrick-Rab, S. (2010). Challenges and opportunities for improving community college student success. Review of Educational Research, 80, 437-469.

• Handel, S. (2011). Improving student transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions: The perspective of leaders from baccalaureate-granting institutions. New York, NY: College Board.

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Selected References & Resources (cont’d)

• Hossler, D. Ziskin, M.B., Gross, J.P.K., Kim, S., & Cekic, O. (2009). Student aid and its role in encouraging persistence. In J.C. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education, Handbook of Theory and Research: Vol. 24 (pp. 389-425). New York, NY: Springer.

• McKinney, L., & Novak, H. (2013). The relationship between FAFSA filing and persistence among first-year community college students. Community College Review, 41(1), 63-85.

• Perna, L.W. (1998). The contribution of financial aid to undergraduate persistence. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 28(3), 25-40.

• Perna, L.W. (2010). Toward a more complete understanding of the role of financial aid in promoting college enrollment: The importance of context. In J.C. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research: Vol. 25 (pp. 129-179). New York, NY: Springer.

• Perna, L.W., & Jones, A.P. (Eds.). (2013). The state of college access and completion: Improving college success for students from underrepresented groups. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Swail, W.S., Redd, K.E., & Perna, L.W. (2003). Retaining minority students in higher education: A framework for success. (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Series, 30, No. 2). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

• Tinto, V. (2012). Completing college: Rethinking institutional action. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

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