Thesis (M. Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was introduced in South Africa in 1999. Despite two decades of implementation—and some notable successes—the NSFAS has been critiqued for its overall “effectiveness” (McKay, Naidoo & Simpson 2018:25-27). This study investigated the effectiveness of NSFAS from the perspective of skills development among students at the University of Limpopo (UL). The study used a qualitative research design which purposively selected participants using a semi-structured interview instrument. The purposive sampling included nine NSFAS beneficiaries from the Faculties of Management and Law and Science and Agriculture and six NSFAS administrators working at UL. The study applied thematic analysis to analyse the collected data. The analysis enabled insights into the effectiveness of NSFAS on skills development among a limited sample at UL to be presented. The findings suggest that NSFAS funding contributes towards soft-skills development of student beneficiaries. There was less evidence that NSFAS funding contributed to hard-skills development. The study recommends that UL could introduce a number of measures to reinforce the soft-skills development that NSFAS catalysed such as internal mentorship schemes for students and/or engaged collaborations with non-academic partners to reinforce the soft-skills components of students learning experience. Due to the localised nature and small size it is suggested that further research is warranted into the impact of NSFAS on students soft-skills development at a broader scale. During the research process, the ethical rules and regulations dictated by the Turfloop Research and Ethics Committee (TREC) were complied with and the suggested protocols of the experiences of educational researchers in the use of case study design during the COVID-19 pandemic were also observed and adhered to.

This mixed methods research study used a QUAN-QUAL Model to examine the impact that various factors have on student persistence to graduation in postsecondary education. A documentary research approach was used to collect secondary or existing data from the student information system for first-time full-time freshmen in the Fall 2008 Cohort who graduated within six years. The size of the sample for the quantitative inquiry was 211. A correlational research design was employed to determine if a significant relationship existed between the dependent variables—Persistence to Graduation within Six Years (YEAR) and Final GPA at Time of Degree Completion (FIN GPA)—and the independent variables, Financial Aid Awarded (FINAID), High School GPA (HSGPA), ACT Composite Score (ACT COMP), SAT Combined Score (SAT COMB), First-Year First-Semester GPA (FYFS GPA), First-Year Cumulative GPA (FY GPA), Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), and On-Campus or Off-Campus Housing (ON-OFF CAMP). Descriptive statistical analyses were used to describe, summarize, and interpret the data collected. A case study research approach was used to gain an in-depth understanding into the real-life experiences of a small group of students who did not graduate within six years and who were still persisting toward degree attainment. The Graduation: Survey of Undergraduate Persistence questionnaire was distributed to the participants to gain a holistic understanding of the impact that family, faculty, peers, financial resources, and other environmental influences had on their experiences while persisting toward a college degree. Four questionnaires were completed and returned, followed by three in-depth interviews. The findings from the survey and interviews on the role of financial aid supported the quantitative findings on the relationship between financial aid awarded and persistence to graduation. In the quantitative data analysis, persistence to graduation within six years was significant and positively related to the number of occurrences of financial aid awarded. As the number of financial aid occurrences decreased, the number of years to graduate decreased. Alternatively, an increase in the number of financial aid occurrences resulted in an increase in years to graduate. Postsecondary educational leaders and P-12 educational leaders can utilize the study in forming partnerships to foster collaboration and a “move to action” in preparing students to do college-level course work upon graduating from high school.

<div>This dissertation consists of three chapters regarding labor economics. The first chapter studies the relative preference men and women have for working with coworkers of the same or opposite sex. The second chapter develops a conceptual framework for estimating the distribution of perceived returns to investments conditional on observed characteristics. The third chapter applies the methods described in the second chapter to estimate perceived returns to college and discusses policy implications.</div><div><br></div><div>The first chapter analyzes the effect of occupational gender composition on job-specific labor supply for workers of each gender. I construct a static model of job selection wherein preferences regarding coworker gender composition produce gender-specific compensating differentials. I estimate the model to identify the underlying coworker gender preference parameters. Based on estimated compensating differentials, men's preference is highest for occupations that are 60% female and lowest for female-dominated occupations. Women prefer jobs that are female-dominated, and are least satisfied with jobs that are 25% male all else equal.</div><div><br></div><div>The second chapter describes a conceptual framework for inferring agents' perceived returns to college by exploiting the dollar-for-dollar relationship between perceived returns and tuition costs in a binary choice model of college attendance. This approach has four attractive features. First, it provides estimates of perceived returns in terms of compensating variation, which directly inform financial policies that seek to (dis)incentivize the investment. Second, it provides very fine continuously-heterogeneous estimates conditional on a large set of observed characteristics, allowing for differential predictions for how selective, well-publicized policies are likely to affect different types of individuals. Third, because it obtains type-specific perceived returns distributions instead of point elasticities, it provides differential predictions for the effects of type-specific financial interventions depending on the magnitude of the intervention. Finally, the estimates are obtained assuming rational expectations only on prices (one component of returns) rather than on returns as a whole.</div><div><br></div><div>The third chapter applies the method described in the second chapter to estimate perceived returns to college using NLSY79 data. Estimating the model using both maximum likelihood and moment inequalities, I find that the scale of the distribution of perceived returns is an order of magnitude lower than past work has found when assuming rational expectations on income returns. The low variance I find in perceived returns implies high responses to financial aid. I predict a 2.6 percentage point increase in college attendance from a $1,000 universal annual tuition subsidy, which is consistent with quasi-experimental estimates of the effects of tuition assistance on college attendance. Adapting the difference-in-difference estimation performed by Dynarski (2003) on the effect of the Social Security Student Benefit to the current setting, I find that the policy increased perceived returns to college by $23,800, compared to an average aid amount of $6,700 per year ($26,800 per four years) (year 2000 dollars). Using the estimated distribution of perceived returns, I perform a counterfactual policy experiment that induces a set percentage of the population to attend college at minimal cost to the government.</div>

O exercício da cidadania através do serviço voluntário modela o Estado e o conduz à síntese da sua origem e à finalidade da sua existência: o interesse público. A relevância social do tema proposto é manifesta diante da contemporaneidade da valorização e do incentivo do voluntariado, pelos veículos midiáticos, prestados junto às entidades públicas ou privadas sem finalidade lucrativa. A relevância acadêmica e científica da pesquisa mostra-se na medida em que cabe ao Direito do Trabalho, ainda que não exclusivamente, o estudo das relações que se formam em tomo da dualidade capital x força de trabalho, não só diante de particulares, mas também diante de contratações realizadas pelo Estado. Ademais, o estudo metódico, baseado em critérios científicos, mostra qual o melhor caminho para o enfrentamento da questão, ao buscar propostas que levem à atuação efetiva do Estado sem se afastar da concretização dos direitos sociais dos trabalhadores, estando diante do verdadeiro mosaico que se forma a partir das novas formações geométricas provenientes das modernas relações de trabalho. o foco do trabalho é a análise minuciosa da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro previsto em diversas normas federais e estaduais que regulam programas de governo destinados às pessoas em situação de desemprego e preveem não só a prestação de serviços, mas também, o pagamento de auxílio financeiro afastando, textualmente, o vínculo empregatício entre os contratantes e dando à parcela caráter indenizatório. Por fim, o trabalho busca dar fundamentos à conclusão da pesquisa, ao tratar da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro pago pelas entidades públicas aos prestadores de serviço voluntário e das consequências jurídicas desse pagamento, sob o enfoque do direito administrativo constitucional e do direito do trabalho. / O exercício da cidadania através do serviço voluntário modela o Estado e o conduz à síntese da sua origem e à finalidade da sua existência: o interesse público. A relevância social do tema proposto é manifesta diante da contemporaneidade da valorização e do incentivo do voluntariado, pelos veículos midiáticos, prestados junto às entidades públicas ou privadas sem finalidade lucrativa. A relevância acadêmica e científica da pesquisa mostra-se na medida em que cabe ao Direito do Trabalho, ainda que não exclusivamente, o estudo das relações que se formam em tomo da dualidade capital x força de trabalho, não só diante de particulares, mas também diante de contratações realizadas pelo Estado. Ademais, o estudo metódico, baseado em critérios científicos, mostra qual o melhor caminho para o enfrentamento da questão, ao buscar propostas que levem à atuação efetiva do Estado sem se afastar da concretização dos direitos sociais dos trabalhadores, estando diante do verdadeiro mosaico que se forma a partir das novas formações geométricas provenientes das modernas relações de trabalho. o foco do trabalho é a análise minuciosa da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro previsto em diversas normas federais e estaduais que regulam programas de governo destinados às pessoas em situação de desemprego e preveem não só a prestação de serviços, mas também, o pagamento de auxílio financeiro afastando, textualmente, o vínculo empregatício entre os contratantes e dando à parcela caráter indenizatório. Por fim, o trabalho busca dar fundamentos à conclusão da pesquisa, ao tratar da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro pago pelas entidades públicas aos prestadores de serviço voluntário e das consequências jurídicas desse pagamento, sob o enfoque do direito administrativo constitucional e do direito do trabalho.

With the US recovering from a recession, a college diploma has become more valuable to avoid unemployment. Despite a college degree's importance, the access to higher education is a challenge for lower income Pell-Eligible Vermont students. For the past three decades, higher education continues to rise in cost faster than family income. Cost is not only an inhibitor for Pell-Eligible Vermont students. The complexities of navigating the financial systems of higher education to acquire aid in order to make college obtainable is also an issue for Pell-Eligible students. In order to successfully navigate these systems, a Pell-Eligible student's habitus, cultural capital, and social capital, greatly influence their decisions about applying to college and being able to successfully participate once accepted. To help understand the experience of Pell-Eligible Vermont students as they navigate the financial system of higher education institutions, I utilized a qualitative case-study phenomenological approach. The study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the specific challenges for Pell-Eligible students during their navigation of the financial systems of college? (2) What messages/information/support and from where do Pell-Eligible students receive about financing a college education? (3) How does cultural and social capital, and habitus influence a Pell-Eligible student in navigating the financial systems of higher education? (4) What are the implications for high schools, states, and colleges in providing information for Pell-Eligible students in navigating the college process? The study looked at the experiences of Pell-Eligible students who applied to and were accepted at Green Mountain University (GMU), a public four-year university in the Northeast region of the US. I interviewed undergraduates of GMU, the financial-aid officers of GMU, and professionals from the Vermont Higher Education Agency (VHEA). The goal of the study was to find areas where higher education institutions, high schools, and government agencies, can provide better support, more transparency, and ease the navigation process for Pell-Eligible Vermont students as they make decision and navigate the financial aid process in order to enroll into college after high school graduation.

Beginning with the understanding that minority students are often underrepresented in STEM doctoral programs despite their growing proportions in the population, this study provides a description of selected minority doctoral students' experiences in STEM programs. Specifically, this study examines the influence financial support and relationships with faculty advisors and doctoral peers have on doctoral students' experiences and progress. Data for this research were obtained from 13 minority respondents enrolled during spring, summer, and fall 2009 and 73 majority respondents who provided some comparisons and contrasts. The participants were all Ph.D. students from several STEM programs at a research university in the Midwest. Findings from this study suggest that financial support of doctoral students through fellowships and research/teaching assistantships enables students to interact closely with their faculty and their peers and consequently become integrated into the social and academic systems of their programs. Further, through their experiences in teaching and research minority students report acquiring skills and competencies useful not only for graduate school success (e.g. time management; course reading; dissertation writing) but also for successful transition into their respective professions and careers. Funding takes a different form and plays a different role in shaping students' positive experiences in each of the three stages of doctoral study: fellowships during a student's transition year(s), teaching/research assistants during the middle years, and fellowships during the final year(s). Students reported that this sequence of funding supports successful transition into the doctoral program, development of academic and professional competencies during the middles years, and successful doctoral completion during the final year. Faculty-student relationships are important in socializing minority doctoral students into their disciplines and professions. Faculty advisors and mentors are especially important in developing students' academic competencies as well as in preparing them for their professions. In addition, faculty-student relationships characterized by faculty availability, approachability, interest in developing students' academic and professional competence, and support and encouragement are important, perhaps especially so in the absence of mentoring by faculty of color. Peer to peer interactions primarily offer academic combined with social support. Further, interactions and group dynamics among minority students and their transition into PWI doctoral programs seem to be affected by their undergraduate educational backgrounds.

In the context of the Swedish welfare state, the issue of child poverty has over the past decade become increasingly prominent within the political agenda. Most research on child poverty has been based on statistics and research on children’s everyday life and their experiences in situations of economic hardship has been in demand in international as well as Swedish research. The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyze children’s experiences of living within economic hardship as part of their identity work. In addition, it highlights how their agency can be understood as a way of dealing with their situation, as well as how child poverty – and the child position in a welfare state setting -  is understood and conceptualized by the society they live in.  The analysis was based on an interview study involving seventeen children between the ages of 6–18 in families living on or below the limit for receiving welfare benefits. The purpose of the interviews was to explore how these children experience economic hardship at home and among same-aged children, focusing their own strategies and agency. The thesis uses the field of childhood sociology as a theoretical starting point, and the empirical findings are analyzed with an interactionist approach which highlights the meaning of interaction and agency in relation to identity work. The strategies deployed by the children in this study was interpreted in the context of the limited space for agency that the child position entails as well as how their positioning as children, by themselves and others, creates a new understanding of the way poverty is managed by them. This thesis seeks to problematize the issue of child poverty in Sweden by stressing its complexities.  The thesis also emphasizes that it would be a simplification to label these children as merely stigmatized since the status of poverty as a stigma for children can be questioned.

O exercício da cidadania através do serviço voluntário modela o Estado e o conduz à síntese da sua origem e à finalidade da sua existência: o interesse público. A relevância social do tema proposto é manifesta diante da contemporaneidade da valorização e do incentivo do voluntariado, pelos veículos midiáticos, prestados junto às entidades públicas ou privadas sem finalidade lucrativa. A relevância acadêmica e científica da pesquisa mostra-se na medida em que cabe ao Direito do Trabalho, ainda que não exclusivamente, o estudo das relações que se formam em tomo da dualidade capital x força de trabalho, não só diante de particulares, mas também diante de contratações realizadas pelo Estado. Ademais, o estudo metódico, baseado em critérios científicos, mostra qual o melhor caminho para o enfrentamento da questão, ao buscar propostas que levem à atuação efetiva do Estado sem se afastar da concretização dos direitos sociais dos trabalhadores, estando diante do verdadeiro mosaico que se forma a partir das novas formações geométricas provenientes das modernas relações de trabalho. o foco do trabalho é a análise minuciosa da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro previsto em diversas normas federais e estaduais que regulam programas de governo destinados às pessoas em situação de desemprego e preveem não só a prestação de serviços, mas também, o pagamento de auxílio financeiro afastando, textualmente, o vínculo empregatício entre os contratantes e dando à parcela caráter indenizatório. Por fim, o trabalho busca dar fundamentos à conclusão da pesquisa, ao tratar da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro pago pelas entidades públicas aos prestadores de serviço voluntário e das consequências jurídicas desse pagamento, sob o enfoque do direito administrativo constitucional e do direito do trabalho. / O exercício da cidadania através do serviço voluntário modela o Estado e o conduz à síntese da sua origem e à finalidade da sua existência: o interesse público. A relevância social do tema proposto é manifesta diante da contemporaneidade da valorização e do incentivo do voluntariado, pelos veículos midiáticos, prestados junto às entidades públicas ou privadas sem finalidade lucrativa. A relevância acadêmica e científica da pesquisa mostra-se na medida em que cabe ao Direito do Trabalho, ainda que não exclusivamente, o estudo das relações que se formam em tomo da dualidade capital x força de trabalho, não só diante de particulares, mas também diante de contratações realizadas pelo Estado. Ademais, o estudo metódico, baseado em critérios científicos, mostra qual o melhor caminho para o enfrentamento da questão, ao buscar propostas que levem à atuação efetiva do Estado sem se afastar da concretização dos direitos sociais dos trabalhadores, estando diante do verdadeiro mosaico que se forma a partir das novas formações geométricas provenientes das modernas relações de trabalho. o foco do trabalho é a análise minuciosa da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro previsto em diversas normas federais e estaduais que regulam programas de governo destinados às pessoas em situação de desemprego e preveem não só a prestação de serviços, mas também, o pagamento de auxílio financeiro afastando, textualmente, o vínculo empregatício entre os contratantes e dando à parcela caráter indenizatório. Por fim, o trabalho busca dar fundamentos à conclusão da pesquisa, ao tratar da natureza jurídica do auxílio financeiro pago pelas entidades públicas aos prestadores de serviço voluntário e das consequências jurídicas desse pagamento, sob o enfoque do direito administrativo constitucional e do direito do trabalho.

NSFAS is a government-funded scheme that was established in 1996 with the objective of assisting financially needy students who are able to perform well academically, but are financially disadvantaged, and cannot afford higher education. The scheme was introduced as a mechanism to develop the country’s human capital and to also eradicate inequalities leading to poverty, crime, skill shortages and high levels of unemployment. This research was encouraged by the realization of the high drop-out rates amongst students funded by NSFAS. The research, therefore, wanted to investigate the adequacy of NSFAS in qualification completion, specifically at NMMU. In order to elicit responses from participants, a mixed method, with both quantitative and qualitative approaches was preferred. Questionnaires containing closed and open-ended questions were used as instruments for collecting data from participants. The study used a selected group of participants, with certain characteristics; and hence, the study was a purposive study. Five main areas were formulated as a framework to present the findings. The five areas involved the economic background of parents of NSFAS recipients, challenges faced by NSFAS recipients, as well as to determine whether NSFAS recipients were motivated to work hard as a result of attaining financial assistance. The last two areas involved reasons for NSFAS recipients to drop out and lastly the available support for NSFAS recipients. In relation to the economic background of parents of NSFAS recipients, findings revealed that almost 50 percent of their guardians were employed, with 26 percent of them being in skilled positions. The challenges faced by NSFAS recipients, were revealed, as being both academic and financial. About 52 percent of participants did not obtain full funding; and therefore, were expected to contribute towards their uncovered expenses. These participants were eventually faced with financial challenges that led them to drop out. To determine whether participants were motivated to work hard, as a result of acquiring financial assistance from NSFAS, about 52 percent of participants agreed to have received financial relief from NSFAS, but were not motivated to work hard. Findings revealed different reasons that led students funded by NSFAS to drop out before qualifying. The reasons included less Lecturer support (17.6 percent), unbearable workload (51.8 percent), bad qualification choice and financial challenges (21.4 percent). The last main area focused on available support from NSFAS as an Organisation to its recipients. Findings revealed no structured support system in place from NSFAS that was directed specifically to see its recipients succeed. Findings of the study can be used to identify students funded by NSFAS who might drop out before finishing their intended qualification. The findings could also guide NSFAS on what the student requirements are – in order to qualify. Recommendations on drop-out reductions and retention successes from local and international countries are provided. Further recommendations directed to NSFAS as a provider and it’s recipients are also provided.

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.