Persistence by Undergraduates in an Urban Public University: Understanding the Effects of Financial Aid

Abstract

The decline in federal grants over the past two decades could be problematic for urban higher education because of the concentration of poverty in urban settings. This case study examines the effects of student aid on within-year persistence at an urban public university in the 1990s. The analyses indicate that aid packages remained adequate at this urban university. It appears that state and institutional grants play an increasingly important role in maintaining affordability in this new context of higher tuition and higher loans.