Financial Aid Policies Research Articles

시장지향형 고등교육재정 국가의 등록금과 학자금 지원 현황 분석: 미국과 일본을 중심으로

[Purpose] This study seeks to derive pertinent policy implications through an analysis of the prevailing landscape of tuition fees and student financial aid mechanisms in the United States and Japan. These nations are characterized by substantial per-student public expenditure within the OECD and a notable private financial burden in comparison to governmental contributions, mirroring the context of South Korea. [Methods] To this end, both domestic and international statistical datasets and scholarly literature were employed to scrutinize aggregate educational expenditures, the current status and magnitude of tuition fees, and modalities of student financial support, encompassing scholarships and student loans. [Results] The research findings indicate that these high-tuition nations, such as the US and Japan, adopt a holistic approach to tuition and financial aid policies within the broader context of total educational costs, concurrently executing strategies to mitigate student financial exigencies and bolster university fiscal stability. Moreover, governmental endeavors to establish equilibrium between student and institutional support are evident, alongside multi-tiered (central and local) and inter-agency support initiatives aimed at alleviating the pressures associated with elevated tuition fees. [Conclusion] Ultimately, this study proffers salient policy recommendations concerning tuition fee determination and the provision of student financial assistance within the South Korean educational framework.

Do State Financial Aid Policies Increase College Enrollment and Completion for Adult Learners?

ABSTRACT While efforts to increase college access and completion have historically focused on recent high school graduates, state policymakers have begun to realize that, in order to expand their competitive workforce, they also need to increase postsecondary attainment among adults. In this study, we use data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and a differences-in-differences approach to estimate the impact of adult-targeted state grant aid on enrollment and completion outcomes across 10 different states. We find that effects vary across states, with positive effects on enrollment and completion primarily concentrated at eligible two-year institutions. We also find some statistically significant negative effects which suggest that the grant aid programs may have induced individuals to trade-off between institution types, or competing policies may have drawn away adults who otherwise would have enrolled into the workforce. Our results have implications for future policy efforts aimed at increasing the postsecondary attainment of adults.

Returning to Reach Higher: Exploring the Perceptions and Lived Experiences of Adult Learners Pursuing Bachelor's Degrees

As adult learners increasingly seek bachelor’s degrees for career advancement and personal fulfillment, understanding their unique challenges and experiences becomes crucial for higher education institutions. This study focuses on the academic journeys of nine adult learners aged 29 to 53 who attended community colleges in Florida before seeking a bachelor's degree at one of Florida's public universities. Using Schlossberg's (1989) Transition Theory and Weiner's (1972) Attribution Theory as frameworks, this study examines participants' perceptions of the situational and dispositional experiences that impact their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. The results revealed narrative themes categorized as learning curves, demotivating experiences, and influential factors, including balancing multiple responsibilities, overcoming financial aid policy constraints, and the need for strong support systems to sustain their academic persistence. This study highlights the resilience and determination of adult learners in achieving their educational goals despite challenges. The findings offer practical insights and recommendations for higher education practitioners to better support adult learners in undergraduate programs, emphasizing the importance of tailored student services and flexible academic policies that support their retention.

Impact Evaluation of Special Financial Aid Policy In Alor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province

This study aims to evaluate the impact of the special financial assistance policy in Alor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. The intervention is carried out through budget allocations for capital stimulation for productive economic businesses carried out by the poor, with the policy objective being to have an impact on improving people's lives. The implementation of Special Financial Assistance (SAF) was carried out from 2019-2022 in Alor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. This study uses a descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and field observations. The results showed that the special financial assistance allocation policy had an impact on increasing the productive economic effort of the poor and affected their ability to access better education and health services. This study also found that the special financial assistance policy has a positive impact on the development of productive economic businesses of the poor, because there is easy access to capital for the poor so that they can develop their businesses and improve their standard of living, which in turn improves the economic conditions of their households, and are able to access better health and education services.

International students in United States allopathic medical education: a mixed-methods analysis of institutional policies

ABSTRACT International medical students (IMS; non-U.S. citizens/permanent residents) greatly enhance the diversity of U.S. medical schools and serve in areas of greatest healthcare needs. Despite 15% of the US population being foreign born, international students represent < 2% of US-MD matriculants. Factors that contribute to this underrepresentation of IMS remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed the accessibility, quality, and inclusivity of publicly available admissions and financial aid policies at all US-MD schools, with the goal of evaluating potential institutional and informational barriers faced by IMS. Institutional webpages and American Association of Medical College (AAMC) databases were searched from May-July 2023 to gather IMS-specific admissions and financial aid information from 153 accredited US-MD schools. Two-tailed t-test or chi-square analysis was used to examine differences. An inductive thematic approach was used to qualitatively categorize institutional webpage friendliness. While 45% (69/153) of U.S.-MD schools reported accepting IMS, only 18% (27/153) admitted students without restrictions (e.g., Canadians only, state/religious preference). Further, 38% (26/69) of the schools that accept IMS did not provide financial aid information, while nearly two-thirds of the remaining schools required proof of personal financial ability with no institutional/federal support. International students also entered schools with a higher average Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score and Grade Point Average (GPA). In the national AAMC databases, 19 additional programs were listed as accepting IMS although the institutional webpages stated otherwise; the databases also lacked details on specific restrictions posed by the majority of institutions. Of all 153 webpages, only 14% were deemed ‘international friendly.’ Restrictive admissions and financial aid policies as well as the poor quality and access to information are major barriers that affect IMS. Strategies that aim to overcome these challenges can greatly help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education.

Second Try's a Charm: The Impact of Financial Aid Policy on Course Retaking Behavior for Low Income Students

Abstract In this paper, we examine the impact of a change to federal financial aid policy that gave aided students increased access to course retaking. Prior to Fall 2011, students receiving federal financial aid could not count repeated coursework towards their full-time enrollment count, despite many universities rolling out course retaking and grade forgiveness policies for their students. We use administrative records from San Francisco State University to examine how the 2011 federal financial aid policy change affected student outcomes for Pell Grant recipients. We find that the policy change led Pell-eligible students to be 3 percentage points more likely to repeat a course in which they earned a D grade on the initial attempt (approximately a 14 percent increase). We also find evidence that Pell-eligible students were more likely to attempt and earn higher credit hours after the policy change. However, despite this finding, there is no accompanying improvement in academic standing or increase in continued enrollment after the policy change. Results suggest that the policy may have influenced Pell-eligible students to take “riskier” classes with higher failure rates in science, technology, engineering, and math and business.

Research on the precise economic support model of college student financial aid policy to the funded group based on cluster analysis

Abstract Accurate financial aid is an important content and due meaning of college students’ financial aid in colleges and universities in the new development stage. The article uses the campus card of University W as the research data source and uses the FSIPD algorithm to search and process the relevant features of poor students after modeling the poverty data. In the initial feature set, the extraction of students’ average daily consumption amount is realized by entropy and proximity, and the MD-KNN algorithm is combined to classify the average daily consumption amount of poor students. The strong association rules of poor students’ data were mined by the association rule Apriori algorithm, and the differences between the college students’ financial aid policies and the categories of the funded groups were investigated by combining the FCM cluster analysis algorithm. The strong association rules of “especially poor”, “poor” and “generally poor” students are obtained by the Apriori association algorithm, and their support and confidence levels are kept high. The level of support and confidence for these rules is high. The learning status of the subsidized group is divided into three clusters, namely, stray, active and lazy, and there is a significant difference (Sig&lt;0.05) between the satisfaction of national scholarships and national student loans among stray, active and lazy students. Classification based on the MD-KNN algorithm yields that the average daily consumption of poor students resides between 20 and 27 yuan. Colleges and universities have the ability to create appropriate financial aid policies for the subsidized groups based on the data mining results to ensure the financial support for college students’ studies and lives.

A Systemic Dynamic Analysis between Higher Education Financial Aid Policies and the Strengthening of Chinese National Community Consciousness

Abstract The nurturing effectiveness of college financial aid policy has been the focus of attention of the state, society and colleges and universities. This paper proposes a mechanistic framework of the influence of college financial aid policy on Chinese national community consciousness from the perspective of system dynamics (SD), combines the positive feedback characteristics of college financial aid policy on the strength of Chinese national community consciousness, constructs a SD model based on the flow rate basic entry tree (RIT), and conducts a simulation of the model in order to validate the validity and application value of the model. The results show that the model has a very high degree of fit to the actual evolution process of the college financial aid policy affecting the sense of Chinese national community, and the correlation is as high as 0.9926. The college financial aid policy has a positive impact on the sense of national community in China, and it will continue to be strengthened with time. Students’ academic completion and sense of belonging and identification with the Chinese nation mediate the relationship between college financial aid policies and the sense of community of the Chinese nation. The results of this study are intended to provide strong support for college financial aid policy making and to strengthen the Chinese national community’s consciousness.

한국장학재단의 학자금대출과 국가장학금 수혜에 따른 대학생의 학업성취도, 대학 생활 및 여가와 삶의 질 분석

This study aimed to compare policy effects of two main pillars of national financial aid programs—student loans and national scholarships—operating under the shared objective of financial assistance for higher education but in different ways, focusing on university students’ outcomes, student life, leisure, and quality of life. We utilized data from the KEEP II covering 2018~2021. The study identified groups receiving student loans and national scholarships through the Korea Student Aid Foundation (KOSAF), employing propensity score matching (PSM) to control for sample selection bias. A two-way fixed effects (FE) analysis was conducted using four years of data to account for individual-specific and time-specific effects. Furthermore, this study estimates the Average Treatment Effect on the Untreated (ATU) by predicting the effects on the group that received student loans if they were to receive national scholarships. The analysis yielded the following findings: while there were no statistically significant differences between the national scholarship and student loan groups in terms of academic performance and university life variables, the scholarship recipients exhibited a statistically significant positive effect on health and quality of life-related dependent variables. In other words, students who received national scholarships were more likely to have regular breakfast, increase their weekday leisure time, engage in more physical exercise, and enjoy better sleep quality, and increase happiness. The significance of this study lies in its focus on the relationship between financial aid, student health, and quality of life. Methodologically, by setting the control group for propensity score matching to resemble the actual policy target group, thereby facilitating a comparison of the effects of the two financial aid policies. Based on these findings, the study suggests policy implications.

The Current Situation of Financial Aid Policies and Social Support for Impoverished College Students in China: a Literature Review

This paper starts from the concept of impoverished college students and describes in detail the five stages of China's financial aid policies for impoverished college students. It elaborates on the basic situation of impoverished college students in China from three aspects: learning status, mental health status, and employment status. Finally, based on previous research, this study divides social support into national support, school support, third-party social force support, teacher support, family support, and peer support. This study provides insight into the situation of financial aid for impoverished students in Chinese universities and provides a reference for future policy formulation and research.

Correlation between higher education support and future sustainable ecopreneurship drive among Javanese-centric students

The environmental crisis has triggered green markets and eco-consciousness. Java is facing severe ecological stress. Ecopreneurship is then seen as a job creator and conservation tool. However, obstacles such as scarce resources remain among entrepreneurs. Universities play a crucial role in promoting eco-awareness and nurturing aspiring ecopreneurs. This study aims to analyze the role of three pillars of external support for education, government, and technology in self-efficacy and ecopreneurship intentions among Java Island students. This study involved 309 undergraduate (S1) students from state and private universities in Java in different specialization programs, based on the criteria, who attended and passed the entrepreneurship course program. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that eco-educational support was found to significantly enhance ecopreneurial self-efficacy, aligning with prior research emphasizing the importance of recognition, curriculum, industry collaboration, and business ecosystem in fostering self-efficacy. Similarly, eco-educational support positively influences ecopreneurial intention, reinforcing the significance of educational initiatives in promoting green business ventures. Governmental assistance, including financial aid and pro-environment policies, was identified as crucial in bolstering both self-efficacy and intention for ecopreneurship. Moreover, the support of information technology positively affects self-efficacy and intention, indicating its role in facilitating access to resources and fostering confidence among aspiring ecopreneurs. The study also highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy, suggesting its importance in bridging external support with entrepreneurial intentions. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of holistic support systems in cultivating a generation of environmentally conscious entrepreneurs. AcknowledgmentThis study is funded by the Riset Kolaborasi Indonesia (Grant No. 38248/UN38.15/LK.04.00/2023) Universitas Negeri Surabaya.

The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants

There is debate over whether Asian American students face additional barriers, relative to white students, when applying to selective colleges. Here we present the results from analyzing 685,709 applications submitted over five application cycles to 11 highly selective colleges (the “Ivy-11”). We estimate that Asian American applicants had 28% lower odds of ultimately attending an Ivy-11 school than white applicants with similar academic and extracurricular qualifications. The gap was particularly pronounced for students of South Asian descent (49% lower odds). Given the high yield rates and competitive financial aid policies of the schools we consider, the disparity in attendance rates is likely driven, at least in part, by admissions decisions. In particular, we offer evidence that this pattern stems from two factors. First, many selective colleges give preference to the children of alumni in admissions. We find that white applicants were substantially more likely to have such legacy status than Asian applicants. Second, we identify geographic disparities potentially reflective of admissions policies that disadvantage students from certain regions of the United States. We hope these results inform discussions on equity in higher education.

Bucky, Becky, and Student Financial Aid Policy Design

Bucky’s Tuition Promise (BTP) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison offers generous financial aid to low-income, in-state students. Unlike many similar programs at other public universities, financial eligibility for BTP depends solely on a family’s adjusted gross income (AGI), rather than on the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or some function of the poverty line. This program design aims to make eligibility simpler and more transparent for students and their families and thereby to encourage application and matriculation. We investigate the implications of the program design for who does and does not receive additional institutional aid, with a particular focus on the marginal group of BTP-eligible students who lack federal Pell Grant eligibility. With this analysis, we aim to motivate a broader discussion of different notions of equity in financial aid administration and the tough trade-offs implicit in simplifying eligibility criteria.

Bucky, Becky, and Student Financial Aid Policy Design

Bucky, Becky, and Student Financial Aid Policy Design

Confronting Poverty: Measuring Its Causes, Costs, and Consequences

We introduce this volume, which investigates a range of topics about poverty, including its measurement, policies intended to alleviate it, and the role of the economy in the likelihood of being in poverty. The volume was conceived as a tribute to Rebecca Blank, who was a leader in scholarship and policy translation and served at the highest levels in government and academia. The final section of the volume explores topics of special interest to Blank, including financial aid policy, the evolving roles of women in leadership, the ways in which academics can be more effective in policymaking, and motivations for her work.

Financial Aid Policies and Equal Access to Higher Education in America: A Guide for Nigerian Scholarship Scheme

This work is meant to look at the policy issue regarding financial aid, the gap problem of financial aid and equal access to higher education. The study presents public policies on student financial aid that promote access and choice for needy students. The primary purpose of financial aid is to enable students to gain equal opportunity access to higher education. The main issue that the work tackled is to analyze whether financial aid policy can improve equal opportunity to college access or not. This research work is a non-empirical paper based on qualitative research using secondary sources and memos. The research concludes that financial aid generally increases access to higher education and the probability that students will attend college once they have aids. This research suggests that for most aid programs to be successful, they should be well publicized and relatively easy to understand and apply for.

Student Loans, Employment Readiness, and Labor Market Outcomes

We study whether student debt impacts individuals’ ability to adequately prepare for the labor market. Using no-loans financial aid policies as an exogenous shock to student loans, we find that student loans negatively impact students’ ability to have an internship that is related to the students chosen major. Internships are also shown to be positively associated with the likelihood of finding a job, the likelihood of finding employment in a related field of study, and job satisfaction. Student debt similarly dampens the positive effects of mentoring, professor support, and the school’s effort to prepare students for the labor market.

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study in Urban Areas in Thailand.

This study examined the prevalence of and factors associated with depression symptoms among Thai older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among older adults in urban areas in Bangkok, Thailand, between July and October 2021. The 15-item Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS-15) was used to determine the prevalence of depression symptoms, and multiple logistic regression was conducted to identify the associated factors. A total 156 older adults survey responses were received. The largest group of participants (80.8%) was aged below 70, women (50.6%), married (67.9%), retired (41%), having sufficient income (67.9%), living with their families (89.1%). More than half (71.8%) had an underlying disease, with hypertension being the most common (39.1%). In addition, 17.3% of the participants had received compulsory COVID-19 vaccination. Only 0.6% had a history of COVID-19 infection. The prevalence of depression among Thai older adults was 20.5%. Univariate analysis demonstrated occupation and income sufficiency was associated with depression symptoms. The results of the multivariate analysis found that the "non-worker" group was 3.54 times more likely to experience depression symptoms than the reference group (OR = 3.54, 95% CI = 1.25-10.02, p = 0.018) when controlling for the confounding factors. This study highlights the importance of addressing depression symptoms among Thai older adults, in which occupation and income sufficiency were the main variable factors for depression. Our study further suggested that the importance of interventions such as increasing job availability and establishing financial aid policies may ameliorate depression symptoms among older adults, especially in high-risk groups during the pandemic situation such as the COVID-19.

Indebted to My Education: Examining College Graduates’ Perceptions of Student Loan Repayment

In this paper, we examine college graduates’ perceptions of entering student loan repayment and how they navigated this process. Findings highlight the importance of helping students make informed borrowing decisions, particularly as they begin repaying their student loan debt. Policy makers wishing to hold institutions accountable for keeping college affordable while enhancing financial aid policy will gain further insight.

LEARNING REFLECTIONS ON COURSE WORK AS A DOCTORAL SCHOLAR

In all fields of life science, research is a feeder system that provides essential knowledge, skill, and innovation. A six-month course of study that is required of all research scholars has been proposed and enacted due to research developments and quality improvements in doctoral research programs. The majority of difficulties were experienced during the thesis writing, viva, and correction phases of their research; nonetheless, better postgraduate centers and more accommodating financial aid policies are still required to foster inclusive learning environments for postgraduates. In order to meet the various requirements and expectations of full-time and distance-learning doctorate students, it is crucial for supervisors to be knowledgeable about a variety of postgraduate supervising methodologies. This research paper aims to study the scholar’s perception of the coursework and assessment during the first year of doctoral study.&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0287/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;