Financial Aid's Role in Meeting State College Completion Goals

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas W. Hillman ◽  
Erica Lee Orians
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
College Completion ◽  
Application Process ◽  
Task Forces ◽  
Financial Aid Policy ◽  
State College ◽  
State Education ◽  
Eligibility Requirements ◽  
Higher Education Leaders

This brief utilizes the most recent and rigorous financial aid research to inform state higher education leaders about innovative and effective financial aid practices. By simplifying aid eligibility requirements, improving the aid application process, and engaging in early awareness efforts, states could improve the effectiveness of existing aid programs. Additionally, by targeting aid in ways that encourage college completion, more students (particularly those who are most constrained by finances) will improve their chances of earning postsecondary degrees. In recent years, several states have adopted goals of greatly increasing educational attainment levels, so we argue that innovative financial aid policy reform is one of the necessary steps toward meeting these goals. This brief can inform ongoing policy negotiations between state commissioners of higher education, state education task forces, and education and workforce legislative committees.

Moving from the Status Quo to a 21st-Century Financial Aid System

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willliam Elliott ◽  
Melinda Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
Loan Repayment ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
National Defense Education Act ◽  
Financial Aid Policy ◽  
The Status ◽  
Education Act ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Aid Policy

With the creation of the first federal student loans as part of the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the US postsecondary financial aid system was set on a path from which it has not fundamentally deviated in the intervening decades. While college financing has trended almost inexorably toward greater reliance on student borrowing as costs have outpaced families’ incomes, the major components of the financing “mix” have remained unchanged. Financial aid policy is sometimes tweaked around the edges to lighten the burden of student debt, give colleges a competitive edge, or address undesirable disincentives. For the most part, however, these reforms bear more resemblance to the classic “shell game” than to authentic innovations. What American students need are more powerful tools with which to approach their futures—tools that help them prepare for higher education, persist to completion, and then leverage returns on their degrees. What they get, however, are repackaged versions of the same blunt instruments. While everyone wants improved outcomes from our financial aid investments, the nation’s apparent inability or unwillingness to innovate truly novel approaches to paying for higher education stands in the way of progress. The goal of financial aid policy has been narrowly framed as only helping young adults pay for college, a low bar that completely ignores the role financial aid could play in influencing early education, postsecondary completion, and post-college financial health. As a result, instead of receiving support at critical junctures along the opportunity pipeline to a prosperous adulthood, students are largely left to their own devices except at the moment when the tuition bill becomes due. To capitalize on the resulting missed opportunities, the United States needs more than different loan repayment schedules or loosened rules on grant disbursement. What we need is a fundamental shift in how we think about financing higher education and what we believe about why it matters.

scholarly journals Student Loans as a Pressure on U.S. Higher Education

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Popp Berman ◽  
Abby Stivers
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Student Loans ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Student Aid ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Financial Aid Policy

The United States has been at the forefront of a global shift away from direct state funding of higher education and toward student loans, and student debt has become an issue of growing social concern. Why did student loans expand so much in the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s? And how does organization theory suggest their expansion, and the growth of federal student aid more generally, might affect higher education as a field? In the 1960s and 70s, policy actors worked to solve what was then a central problem around student loans: banks' disinterest in lending to students. They did this so well that by 1990, a new field of financial aid policy emerged, in which all major actors had an interest in expanding loans. This, along with a favorable environment outside the field, set the stage for two decades of rapid growth. Organization theory suggests two likely consequences of this expansion of federal student loans and financial aid more generally. First, while (public) colleges have become less dependent on state governments and more dependent on tuition, the expansion of aid means colleges are simultaneously becoming more dependent on the federal government, which should make them more susceptible to federal demands for accountability. Second, the expansion of federal student aid should encourage the spread of forms and practices grounded in a logic focused on students' financial value to the organization, such as publicly traded for-profit colleges and enrollment management practices.

The main directions of educational policy of Finland

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-13
Author(s):  
K. E. Stupak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education Policy ◽  
Education System ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The State ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
State Education Policy ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
State Education

The article deals with analyzing the main streams of the education policy in Finland, which reflect the relationship between a person and society in modern socio–economic conditions. Such policy directs the system of education to change the person and his mind himself. Finland using its education system, has long before been concerned about preparing people for the future by reforming approaches to teaching in schools and higher education institutions. As a result, it has achieved world–wide recognition and top positions in various ratings have resulted. Therefore, today there is a great interest of scientists in certain issues of education functioning in Finland. Thus, G. Androshchuk, V. Butova. I. Zhernokleeva, T. Pushkareva and others study in their works the purpose and decisive role of Finland's education policy in the development of the education system. S. Grinyuk and V. Zagvozdkin pay attention to the practical the steps of reforming the Finnish system of education. T. Drobyshevsk investigates the system of providing educational services in Finland as a sector of knowledge production. L. Volynets, P. Kukharchuk consider the principles of the state education policy of Finland. L. Smolskaya examines the role of the state policy in implementing the "Finnish phenomenon"; P. Basyliuk and Yu. Kulykova, focus attention on the study of the evolution of the system of higher education in Finland; O. Scherbak reveals peculiarities of vocational education and training.

Latina College Students: Issues and Challenges for the 21st Century

NASPA Journal ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Lozano Rodriguez ◽  
Florence Guido-DiBrito ◽  
Vasti Torres ◽  
Donna Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Academic Support ◽  
Academic Affairs ◽  
Campus Environment ◽  
Latina College Students ◽  
College And University ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Success In Higher Education

A neglected yet increasing student population in higher education at the threshold of the 21st Century, Latina college and university students face distinct challenged and barriers to participation. This manuscript explores various Latina student issues - including "labeling," barriers, and factors contributing to success - and examines effective strategies for student and academic affairs administrators to support Latina success in higher education (ie, financial aid, academic support, social/cultural support, and campus environment).

scholarly journals Organizational Change Management in Higher Education through the Lens of Executive Coaches

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Vlachopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Change Management ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Change Management ◽  
Executive Coaches ◽  
Leadership In Higher Education ◽  
Education Leaders ◽  
Higher Education Leaders

This study investigated perceptions of organizational change management among executive coaches working with British higher-education leaders and factors that make leaders effective when managing change. This basic qualitative research used semi-structured interviews with eight executive coaches selected through purposeful sampling. As main challenges to efficient, inclusive change management, participants mentioned leaders’ lack of a strategic vision or plan, lack of leadership and future leader development programs, and lack of clarity in decision-making. They recognized that leaders’ academic and professional profiles are positively viewed and said that, with coaching and support in leadership and strategic planning, these people can inspire the academic community and promote positive change. Additional emphasis was given to the role of coaching in the development of key soft skills (honesty, responsibility, resiliency, creativity, proactivity, and empathy, among others), which are necessary for effective change management and leadership in higher education. The paper’s implications have two aspects. First, the lessons of the actual explicit content of the coaches’ observations (challenges to efficient change management and views of leaders); second, the implications of these observations (how coaching can help and what leaders need).

A comparative study of formal coaching and mentoring programmes in higher education

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Jones ◽  
Helen A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Business School ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Application Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Practice Recommendations ◽  
Matching Process ◽  
Two Phases

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate two coaching and mentoring programmes focused on the ever-increasingly important aim of enhancing the chances of professional level employment for undergraduate students, at two UK universities. In addition, to offer recommendations to enhance coaching and mentoring success within higher education (HE).Design/methodology/approachTwo similar programmes are compared; the first study is a coaching programme delivered in two phases involving over 1,500 students within the business school. The second study is a mentoring programme involving over 250 students over a ten-year period within the business school at a different institution.FindingsThe two programmes have been compared against the key success criteria from the literature, endorsed by coaching and mentoring experts. The results highlight the importance of integrating with other initiatives, senior management commitment, budget, an application process, clear matching process, trained coaches and mentors, induction for both parties, supportive material, ongoing supervision and robust evaluation and record keeping.Research limitations/implicationsThe research focuses on two similar institutions, with comparable student demographics. It would have been useful to dig deeper into the effect of the diverse characteristics of coach/mentor and coachee/mentee on the effectiveness of their relationships. In addition, to test the assumptions and recommendations beyond these two institutions, and to validate the reach and application of these best practice recommendations further afield.Practical implicationsThe results identify a number of best practice recommendations to guide HE institutions when offering coaching and mentoring interventions to support career progression of their students.Originality/valueThere are limited comparison studies between universities with undergraduate career-related coaching and mentoring programmes and limited research offering best practice recommendations for coaching and mentoring programmes in HE. The top ten factors offered here to take away will add value to those thinking of running similar programmes within HE.

Patterns and Volatility in State Funding for Higher Education, 1951–2006

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Delaney ◽  
William R. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Past Research ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
State Budget ◽  
State Budgets ◽  
Higher Education Leaders ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Background Numerous studies have addressed the determinants of higher education appropriations. Extending prior studies that only consider the relationship between higher education and one other state budget category, Delaney and Doyle develop and test an empirical model of the relationship between higher education and all other budget categories. Delaney and Doyle propose that higher education takes the form of a balance wheel in state budgets. They find that higher education is cut more than other budget categories in bad budget years and given larger increases in good budget years. Although previous work advances understanding of how states budget for higher education, it is limited in the length of time considered. Purpose This study makes two important contributions to the literature. First, it documents changes in the amount of volatility in state funding for higher education. Second, it identifies patterns in the volatility, and does so over a longer time period than has been investigated in past research, using data that spans over a half century (1951–2006). Research Design This study uses a unique panel dataset spanning the period from 1951 to 2006 to quantitatively document changes in the extent of volatility in state funding for higher education. It also identifies and tests for patterns of volatility. Findings We find that the level of volatility in state budgeting for higher education has changed over time. We also find evidence of linear (incremental), quadratic (countercyclical), and cubic (balance wheel) patterns of volatility at different points in time. Recommendations Our findings indicate that the role of higher education in state budgets is not static and has varied over time. In policy discussions about higher education funding, we think it is important to consider both absolute funding levels and the amount of volatility in funding. We recommend that higher education leaders discuss not only funding levels with their state legislatures, but also discuss volatility in funding patterns. States and higher education have operated under different funding relationships in the past; therefore, it seems possible that policymakers and higher education officials could change their current funding relationship to conform to a pattern that better serves the needs of the state, institutions, and students.

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