The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship between student persistence and financial aid through a meta-analysis of existing empirical research. The significance of the study was that financial aid policy would be enhanced if the facts regarding the relationship were clearly known. The meta-analysis assessed forty-nine studies, representing seventy samples. Studies were organized into two categories: (1) studies that compared financial aid recipients to nonrecipients and (2) studies that examined persistence differences among financial aid recipients. Studies were integrated by converting each study result into the common metric of effect size. The meta-analysis results were reported in average unweighted and weighted effect sizes. In the latter case results were weighted by the number in the treatment group. Average effect sizes were interpreted by (1) absolute magnitude of effect sizes, (2) graphic representation, and (3) an elasticity measure. The meta-analysis examining the total sample found financial aid to have a small, but significant, positive effect on student persistence, thereby enabling lower income students to persist at a rate roughly equal to that of middle and upper income students. The average unweighted and weighted effect sizes of the total sample were +.13 and +.06, respectively. The length of persistence measured, the type of institution attended, and whether studies controlled for academic ability were found to be mediators influencing the magnitude and direction of the effect size. When results of studies that examined persistence differences among financial aid recipients were integrated, the following conclusions were reached: (1) there was little difference in the persistence of males and females, (2) minority students persisted significantly less than white students, and (3) the amount of financial aid had a significant positive effect on persistence. When forms of financial aid were analyzed, although the effect sizes were reasonably small and the differences in effect sizes among forms were minimal, combinations of aid were determined to be more effective than single forms. This finding probably reflects more the amount of financial aid than the form of financial aid.

The purpose of this study was to examine the financial nexus between college choice and persistence for full-time, first-time, first-year freshman college students. The theoretical framework of this study was the financial nexus construct developed by St. John, Paulsen, and Starkey (1996) and Paulsen and St. John (1997). This is the first study to apply the financial nexus construct to full-time, first-time, first-year freshman population; the first to examine baccalaureate/comprehensive and doctoral/research institutions in both public and private sectors separately. The results of this study found that (1) overall, it is slightly evident that there is a financial nexus between college choice and persistence among full-time, first-time, first-year freshman students; (2) the nexus between college choice and persistence may be different by the Carnegie Classification, and (3) the pattern of the direct effects of financial variables (i.e., tuition and financial aid) on persistence was different from the previous results. Unlike in the previous studies, tuition increases appeared to have a positive effect on the enrollment of full-time, first-time, first-year freshman students attending institutions of all Carnegie Classifications. The result suggests that price may reveal a "quality effect" and that higher tuition institution may signal higher quality. In both public and private institution students, students of comprehensive/baccalaureate institutions were more sensitive to tuition than those of research/doctoral institution. This result may raise fundamental questions about the tuition price responsiveness of full-time, first-time, first-year freshman students. The results indicate that public students were more sensitive to grants than private students. Also, students attending comprehensive/ baccalaureate institutions were more sensitive to grants than those of research/doctoral institutions in both sectors.

The study determined the overall persistence rate of first-time full-time entrants into a mid-sized private university during the fall semesters 1989 to 1991 to the 2nd year (1990 to 1992). The study compared the retention rate of recipients and nonrecipients of a variety of financial aid programs. Included is a comparison of groups receiving various types of financial assistance and whether or not there are differences between the groups with respect to types of assistance, gender, ethnicity (African American, Hispanic, Anglo), high school grade point average, and national test scores (SAT, ACT). The types of assistance studied were categorized by academic scholarships, university-operated student employment, need-based grants, activity awards, entitlements, and loans. The question of whether renewal, elimination, or reduction in assistance relates to retention was also studied.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-217). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-217). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2002. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2929. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-82).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-134). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-194). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.