In recent years, a growing number of American colleges and universities have implemented financial aid policies targeted at lower-income students. These initiatives referred to in this study as Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) programs seek to reduce or eliminate loans as part of student financial aid awards and replace them with grants. Since the first LRG was instituted in 1998, the programs have proliferated; in the past five years over 40 institutions have adopted LRGs.
This qualitative study investigates how and why LRGs are adopted at colleges and universities. Using a comparative case study design, the policy adoption process at three institutions is considered in relation to the diffusion of policy innovation theory a widely accepted mechanism for investigating the spread of new policies across adopting units. The theoretical framework, which has been derived from policy innovation and diffusion literature, consists of eight dimensions and guides analysis of archival data and interviews with institutional policymakers. The core study finding offers support for a unified theory (Berry, 1994) of policy adoption, which simultaneously considers the influence of internal determinants and diffusion-related factors. Results suggest that in LRG adoption, an evaluation of internal determinants is most effective in describing an institutions ability or capacity to implement programs, while diffusion-related factors provide insight regarding the likelihood that institutions will adopt. Additional findings point to a centrality of institutional finances in the policymaking process, the prominent role of policy entrepreneurs, and the influence of institutional problems stemming from underrepresentation of lower-income students. Among diffusion explanations, competition between institutions and the borrowing of policy ideas out of convenience represent the most relevant factors in LRG adoption.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04132009-203405 |
| Date | 05 June 2009 |
| Creators | Lips, Adam Joseph Argaylis |
| Contributors | Michael G. Gunzenhauser, Peter Miller, Erik C. Ness, John C. Weidman |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04132009-203405/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds