The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012 (CAA) was an omnibus spending bill that changed Pell grant funding in response to a budgetary shortfall after a four-year investment in student financial aid. The CAA occurred at a time of state disinvestment coupled with increasing tuition and fees. Through the lens of resource dependence and academic capitalism as a conceptual framework, I used panel data in an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to explore the impact of the CAA on Pell grant revenues. I included an interaction term to specifically address the impact of the CAA on public regional universities (PRUs) versus other institutions. Results indicated that the interaction effect between CAA and PRU was jointly significant. The average Pell award per student at PRUs was $13 less than other institutions before the implementation of the CAA. The average Pell award per student at PRUs increased after the implementation of the CAA; however, the average Pell award per student at PRUs was still $20 less than other institutions. Results indicated that the percentage of students receiving Pell awards was a significant and positive predictor of an average Pell award. Interestingly, institutions designated as minority-serving institutions (MSIs) were also significant and positive predictors of an average Pell award. Admission rate was a significant and negative predictor of an average Pell award but offered little practical meaning. The results highlighted the ongoing fiscal disparities between PRUs and other institutions, particularly as a growing number of MSIs educate students who rely on Pell grants to attend college.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah J. Fishback / A growing body of literature suggested that students who come from poverty have potential risk factors that included: being the first in the family to attend a college, being poorly prepared for the academic rigors of college and requiring remedial developmental coursework. Students from poverty who accessed the rural community college also struggled with rising tuition and fees, as well as the cost of books. Students from poverty had greater struggles with social and personal issues and experienced lower completion rates. Limited research has been conducted with this segment of rural students from poverty backgrounds attending community college in the rural setting. This dissertation described a phenomenological case study approach to identify the impact of poverty on the achievement and persistence of rural students who access the rural community college. A small community college in the Midwest representing a rural population and a high percentage of poverty students was selected as the site for the study. The goal of this research was to explore perceived factors by students receiving Pell Grants and in developmental courses while in attendance at a rural community college in order to identify possible strategies to ameliorate barriers in their rural community college experience. The research found this student population to be at high risk with multiple risk factors. In addition to being developmental and receiving Pell Grants, other scholarships combined with working part-time and often full-time were needed to supplement student finances; poor high school academic preparation and counseling; lacked the computer skills necessary for college coursework; being non-traditional; lack of consistency in tutoring services; and being food short and hungry. These additional risk factors made this segment of the student population fragile.

Access to education is a central part of federal higher education policy, and federal grant and loan programs are in place to make college degrees more attainable for students. However, there is still controversy about whether there are unintended consequences of implementing and maintaining these programs, and whether they are effectively achieving the goal of increased accessibility. In order to answer questions about whether three specific types of federal aid cause higher tuition rates and whether these programs increase graduation rates, four ordinary least squares regression models were estimated. They include changes in both in-state and out-of-state tuition sticker prices, graduation rates, as well as changes in three types of federal aid, and other variables indicative of the value of a degree for four-year public universities in Arizona, California, Georgia, and Florida for years 2001-2011. The regressions indicate a positive effect of Pell Grants on in-state and out-of-state tuition and fees, a positive effect of disbursed subsidized federal loans on the change in number of degrees awarded, and a positive effect of Pell Grants on graduation rates.