Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: John E. Roueche. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This paper consists of three independent, quantitative studies on three higher education policy issues in the U.S. : 1) Performance-based Financial Aid, 2) Community College Degree Attainment, and 3) Dual Enrollment. The first essay discusses how low-income students in free college programs respond to strict achievement standards exceeding the minimum requirement for federal financial aid. To address this question, I examined the impact of a new credit completion requirement for Indiana’s statewide free college program. This program is only available for low-income students and recently increased the number of credits required for maintaining eligibility from “taking” 24 credits per year to “earning” 30 credits per year in 2013. Using Indiana’s statewide administrative data on college students, I exploit the sudden change in the eligibility renewal rule to identify the causal effects of the requirement on their postsecondary outcomes. I found that the new rule increased the likelihood of completing a bachelor’s degree within four years by 2.5 percentage points. At two-year institutions, the policy had mixed impacts, increasing the chance of graduation within two years by 2.9 percentage points but also lowered the second-year persistence rate by 3.7 percentage points. Meanwhile, the number of of degree completers within five years remained unchanged in both the sectors, suggesting that strict achievement requirements only improve program efficiency but not overall productivity in terms of degree attainment. Lastly, the policy effects are largely driven by community college students and students whose high school GPA is at or below the median. This implies that schooling decisions that the policy is intended to influence are mostly concentrated among those students. In the second essay, I discuss how well machine learning (ML) techniques predict the chance of postsecondary credential attainment for students who started at community colleges. Among community college leaders and others interested in reforms to improve student success, there is growing interest in adopting ML techniques to predict credential completion. However, ML algorithms are often complex and are not readily accessible to practitioners for whom a simpler set of near-term measures may serve as sufficient predictors. This study compares the out-of-sample predictive power of early momentum metrics (EMMs)—13 near-term success measures suggested by the literature - with that of metrics from ML-based models that employ approximately 500 predictors for community college credential completion. Using transcript data from approximately 50,000 students at more than 30 community colleges in two states, I find that the EMMs that were modeled by logistic regression accurately predict completion for approximately 80% of students. This classification performance is comparable to that of the ML-based models. The EMMs even outperform the ML-based models in its ability to approximate the actual probability of degree completion. These findings suggest that EMMs are useful predictors for credential completion and that the marginal gain from using an ML-based model over EMMs is small for credential completion prediction when additional predictors do not have strong rationales to be included in an ML-based model, no matter how large the number of those predictors may be. The third essay focuses on dual enrollment programs at community colleges. The number of high students taking college courses has grown dramatically over the past two decades but little is known about their long-term educational outcomes. Using student-level data obtained from the National Student Clearinghouse, this study provides state-level descriptive analyses on the demographic characteristics of dual-enrolled students, as well as their educational attainment statuses in their early 20s. We tracked more than 200,000 high school students who first took a community college course in fall 2010 for six years, through summer 2016 (five years after high school). Eighty-eight percent of these students continued in college after high school, and most earned a certificate or degree or transferred from a two-year college to a four-year college within five years. What type of college former dual enrollment students attended after high school and how many completed a college credential varied greatly by state, and many states showed big disparities in credential completion rates between lower and higher income students.

While college completion rates have increased over time for all students, low-income students and students of color remain underrepresented among degree holders. The research presented here explores the role that family, peer, and contextual social capital play in perpetuating unequal representation in college, and whether AVID can increase the social capital resources available to students. Using multilevel models and data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), results indicated a positive, significant relationship between social capital and rigorous course taking, high school credential attainment, and college-going, with the relationship with family social capital being the strongest. The analyses revealed no direct relationship between AVID participation and academic outcomes, but results did offer modest evidence that some sources of social capital increase more for AVID students over time than non-AVID students with similar characteristics. These findings suggest that educational reform efforts aimed at building social capital are worth supporting. Keywords: social capital; AVID; HSLS:09 dataset; college access; first-generation students; noncognitive skills; cultural capital; neighborhoods; habitus

Financial aid policies are widely used to foster access to higher education for low–income and underrepresented students. Prior research has documented the positive impacts of these programs on the outcomes of the students it intents to help (e.g., Mello, 2021; Londoño-Velez et al., 2020; Bleemer, 2021a; Black, Denning, & Rothstein, 2020). However, how the influx in the number of low–income and underrepresented students at selective institutions shape student outcomes is a somewhat overlooked aspect. Increasing the number of low–income and underrepresented students may come at the cost of reducing the overall academic performance of the group (Arcidiacono et al., 2015). Moreover, it could also lead to social segregation between wealthy and low–income and underrepresented students within the institution. This is an undesirable outcome, if we take into account the increasing evidence on the importance of social membership and networks for employment and overall social mobility (Marmaros & Sacerdote, 2002; S. D. Zimmerman, 2019; Michelman et al., 2021; Rivera, 2016).This dissertation starts by addressing two questions. First, what are the consequences of in- creasing the presence of low–income students at an elite college on students’ academic achieve- ment? And second, can this form of desegregation lead to more interactions between low–income and traditionally privileged students? To answers these questions, I focus on an Elite University in Colombia which experienced a large influx in its enrollment of low–income students, due to the implementation of a large financial aid program known as Ser Pilo Paga (SPP). The program induced plausibly random variation in the shares of low–income students within cohorts and across majors, which I use to examine how the changes in peers’ composition impacted the traditionally privileged students attending this elite institution. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I use administrative data from the Elite University and document how the influx in the share of low–income students led to significant achievement gaps between wealthy and low–income students. Then, I use a difference–in–difference research de- sign to examine the effect that this influx in low–income peers had on wealthy students academic performance and persistence. Overall, my results indicate the influx in low–income peers had no impact on the academic performance of the students traditionally attending this institution. Peer effects estimations suggest that the relatively low academic performance of low–income students had no impact on wealthy students. These findings complement those from Bleemer (2021a), who find college re–segregation has no impacts on the academic performance of White and Asian stu- dents. My results are also consistent with K–12 evidence showing desegregation policies have no impact on the students traditionally attending the desegregated schools (Angrist & Lang, 2004). In the second chapter, I examine whether the influx in the share of low–income peers at the Elite University led students to diversify their social interactions. I complement the administrative data and research design from the previous chapter with administrative records on students’ co– movements across campus captured by turnstiles located at all entrances. To validate the turnstile– elicited interactions, I use secondary survey data on social networks from a sub–sample of students at Elite University. The 9.5 percentage points average increase in the share of low–income peers at an entry cohort–major led wealthy students to double their connections with low–income peers. At least half of the increase in interactions between wealthy and low–income students, however, is explained by interactions of wealthy students with low–income but high–achieving students. These results suggest students diversify their interactions primarily among students with similar academic achievement levels. In the last chapter, I focus on a broader aspect of financial aid policies, and examine how student loans impact college and employment outcomes. In this chapter, my co–author and I are particularly interested in understanding the monetary returns to increasing investments in college education through student loans. To do so, we focus on a nation–wide student loan program in Colombia known as ACCES that covered 75 percent of the tuition cost for low–income students, and exploit rich administrative data to assess the impact of the loan. Importantly, the cost of tuition per semester is fixed for full–time students, regardless of the number of credits they take. The eligibility to the loan increased college enrollment by 9.6 percentage points, the number of semesters attained in 1.76 semesters, and college graduation in 15.4 percentage points. We also find evidence suggesting students with the loan had salaries 13 percent higher six years after high school graduation. To shed light on how student loans can lead to better salaries, we estimate the returns to additional college investments as captured by the marginal increase in college semesters found among loan recipients. We estimate a return to the additional college semester of 3.5 percent of the average daily salary. Sub–group analyses suggest much of the return to the additional semester of college is driven by college completion. This chapter contributes to the literature that has examined how relaxing credit constrains can have positive impacts on long–term outcomes by increasing human capital investments (e.g., Black, Denning, Dettling, et al., 2020; Cameron & Taber, 2004).

This mixed methods study investigated the influence of a career development program attended by low income, first generation, college bound students. Phase I took place in 2006 and 2007 when the students participated in the Upward Bound summer Bridge program. During Phase II in 2009, follow up interviews were conducted. Phase III was completed in 2014 and also included follow-up interviews. Career Identity (CI) scores from My Vocational Situation and Holland codes from the Self Directed Search were obtained during each phase. Changes in measured career identity scores and codes were interpreted by taking into account the students’ experiences. Interviews examined common themes demonstrating the career development of the participants.

The purpose of this study is to critically explore low-income women's experience as they negotiate post secondary education in community colleges. Three research questions explore the context through which low-income women have entered the college experience, what that experience is like for them, and how the community college experience has impacted their consciousness and view of their futures. This study has significance because poverty is a critical social issue for women, post secondary education is a route out of poverty yet social welfare policy does not support access to education, community colleges have traditionally provided access to education but supports for women have been diminished, and poor women's voices and their own definitions of educational access and success are missing from the public and academic debate of these issues. Past qualitative studies that focus on poor women's experience of college are smaller parts of quantitative studies. Other existing in depth studies have focused on obstacles, persistence, and support systems, or have been studies of special transitional programs formed specifically for welfare eligible women. There is little knowledge of women's experience and sense of self from their perspective as students who are also in poverty. This study uses the research technique of in depth unstructured interviews with eight welfare eligible women student parents in Oregon's Parents as Scholars Program. Six themes emerge from the narrative interviews with the participants that that have implications for educational practice and add to and expand the small body of qualitative work that has been done on the college experiences of low-income women students. / Graduation date: 2012

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-208).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of experiential learning on thinking styles among first-generation university students from low income families. 93 students were administered Thinking Style Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2, Sternberg, Wagner & Zhang, 2007) (TSI) and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory-Adult Form (SEI-A). To examine the effect of experiential learning experience on thinking styles, participants responded to the TSI and SEI-A twice and reported the number of extra-curricular activities they joined over a 5-month period. It was found that experiential learning experience was positively correlated with more complex and creativity-generating thinking styles and higher levels of self-esteem for female students and in fact the aforementioned thinking styles were desirable and preferred for students. Findings of this study indicated that different kinds of extra-curricular activities were statistically significant for contributing to the development of certain thinking styles. Such as Volunteering contributed to the Judicial style, Exchange programme facilitated the development of the Hierarchical style and Internship discouraged the Conservative style development. Implications of these findings for teachers were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to understand how White students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds (operationalized as students who are both low income and of the first generation in their family to attend college) experience and navigate social class during college. This was a qualitative research study employing a phenomenological research methodology. A critical theoretical lens was used to illuminate systemic issues of power and privilege related to social class present in the experiences of these participants. This study was guided by the following research question: How do White, low SES students experience and navigate social class during college? Participants in this study had many similar experiences to one another related to their social class. However, there also existed a variety of individual differences in how students understood and experienced their social class during college. Overall, participants expressed a limited awareness of their social class growing up, but all became keenly aware of it during college. In particular, during college, students became aware of how their own social class differed from the dominant middle class to upper class social class represented on campus. Participants minimized the salience of social class as an aspect of their identity with many of them expressing that they did not want their social class to define them. While participants largely did not feel as if social class was an important aspect of their identity, it became clear through their stories that this aspect of their identity influenced how they viewed themselves, the world around them, and their higher SES peers in college. For example, participants readily acknowledged the frustration and resentment that set them apart from their college peers. The students who participated in this study exhibited ethics of hard work, self-sufficiency, and financial responsibility. These values and attitudes also were evident in students' practices and behaviors (e.g., their judicious spending habits, their long hours working for pay). It also became clear that the long hours most participants in this study worked in order to afford college meant missing out on opportunities for involvement in activities outside of the classroom. Finally, participants' experiences interacting with their high SES peers played a pivotal role in their awareness of their social class during college. Participants were often frustrated by the attitudes, values, and behaviors of their higher SES peers, and for some, these social class differences led to social isolation. Overall, these findings illuminate a variety of issues and areas for concern, directly related to social class, experienced by low-income, first-generation college students in higher education.

Every college age student should have the opportunity to attend college and earn a degree, but the fiscal realities for lower income students prevent the majority from attending and the vast majority from completing college, thus perpetuating an intergenerational trend of limited postsecondary education and a likelihood of marginal income and status. Past research studies have shown that, among lower income students, those who receive higher levels of grant funding to offset college expenses are more likely to persist toward completing their educations than those who do not receive the same level of grant funding and thus are forced to rely upon other means, such as student loans or employment, to pay for college. The majority of this research was conducted prior to the recession that began in December 2007 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2008), which has been more severe and longer lasting than any economic contraction since the Great Depression (Dwyer & Lothian, 2012); more current research is needed to determine whether the educational retention behaviors of lower income students in the current challenging economic climate are positively impacted by grant funding. In this study I used quantitative methods to analyze a specific state policy change to determine whether a significant change in the grant funding provided to lower income students resulted in increased retention rates for these students. This study examines school years from 2006-2010, thus encompassing the recent financial crisis and affording an opportunity to explore the persistence behaviors of lower income students during the greatest financial crisis of modern times. The ultimate purpose of the study is to provide conclusions from the research to postsecondary policy makers in the hopes of informing policy and supporting continuing funding of need-based financial aid for lower income students.