Adil Abdulalim
Dr. Rebecca weaver
ENGL 1102
Aabdulalim1@student.gsu.edu
By research conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics in 2010, an average three-year graduation rate of approximately 20 percent goes towards community colleges. On the other side, four-year institutions have a lower six-year graduation rate than two-year institutions. When President Obama requested an update to the Higher Education Act of 1965 from Congress in 2013, colleges and universities began to feel increased pressure to cut costs. Specifically, the request included affordability and value to be included in the determination of which colleges received specific future federal aid. Research from a nationwide education data set demonstrates that financial aid awareness and information play a role in the college decision process for low-income, 4-year university-qualified students and their parents. Using National Education Longitudinal Study survey data, Berkner and Chavez (1997) found that all low-income and middle-income Black and Hispanic students who read information about financial aid from one or more sources were more likely to take steps toward attending a 4-year institution than those who did not read any information. For example, 48% of college-qualified low-income students who did not read any information on financial aid took steps, compared to 70% who obtained information from one or two sources. In addition, college-qualified low-income students were more likely than their middle-income counterparts to read information and speak to teachers, guidance counselors, or college representatives about financial aid. Low-income parents, however, apparently did not have any more information about financial aid than middle-income parents. (Mari Luna De La Rosa, Aug 2006)
As of 2014, the typical community college student’s tuition remained over a third of the average four-year public institution student’s tuition. However, without financial help, financing tuition and non-tuition expenses were practically impossible for most community college students. Many full-time community college students were eligible for Pell Grants, but they needed to find other ways to pay for their education. Although community college students were less likely to use loans than four-year students, community college students faced more severe financial difficulties. Tuition payment affects a student’s capacity to graduate. Graduation rates, which represent how well students complete degree programs, are one way to gauge a community college’s success. Past studies have shown mixed results with a positive relationship between tuition and graduation rate at 4-year institutions (Raikes, Berling, & Davis, 2012) and a not significant relationship between tuition and graduation rate at 2-year institutions (Bailey, Calcagno, Jenkins, Leinbach, & Kienzl, 2006). What is unknown is whether community college tuitions can forecast graduation rates based on recent data and whether enrollment size moderates the relationship between tuition and graduation rate.
The current study includes several delimitations. The first distinction is made in terms of the level of analysis. As opposed to the student level of understanding, the institutional level of study is engaged with a few criteria, such as baseline tuition being established by the state or for each institution, rather than varying tuition costs per individual. Another distinction is that a demographic rather than a sample size is used. The current study looked at all of the nation’s community colleges rather than just a few.
On the other hand, using a population frequently leads to overly broad conclusions. To strengthen external validity and be better generalizable for community college policymakers and future researchers, the enrollment numbers of community colleges were used to regulate the relationships between tuition and graduation rate in the current study. Finally, the graduation rate was used as the unit of analysis. The graduation rate is not always the best indicator of community-academic achievement. On the other hand, the graduation rate is the most commonly used unit of study in the research for assessing community-academic achievement and the most readily available analysis method at the organizational level.
No professional is more critical to improving college enrollments within schools than counselors (McDonough, 2004, 2005a, 2005b). Research clearly shows that counselors, when consistently and frequently available and allowed to provide direct services to students and parents, can be a highly influential group of professionals who positively affect students’ aspirations, achievements, and financial aid knowledge (Adelman, 1999; McDonough, 1997, 2004; Plank & Jordan, 2001). Meeting frequently with a counselor increases a student’s chance of enrolling in a 4-year college, and if students, parents, and counselors work together and communicate clearly, students’ chances of enrolling in college significantly increase. Moreover, the effect of socioeconomic status on the college enrollment of low-income students is explained mainly by the lack of counseling (King, 1996; Plank & Jordan, 2001). (McDonough, Aug 2006). The tuition fee was found to have a negative, substantial link with the percentage of students from quasigroups and the size of enrolment, as well as a significant and positive correlation with the percentage of students getting loans. The percentage of students who received loans was inversely proportional to those who received Pell Subsidies or other federal grants. Furthermore, the percentage of students receiving loans was adversely and significantly associated with the proportion of students from non-dominant groups and the size of the student body.
The problem starts long before a student comes to college. An analysis released this week by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found that children who are black or Latinx or from low-socioeconomic-status families perform worse academically, from pre-K through career, than white Asian Americans or are from higher socioeconomic levels. Furthermore, what is worse, high-achieving children from low-income families have lower odds of success than lower-achieving children from wealthier backgrounds. (Esta Pratt-Kielly, 2018)
The tuition fee was found to have a negative, substantial link with the percentage of students from quasigroups and the size of enrolment, as well as a significant and positive correlation with the percentage of students getting loans. The percentage of students who received loans was inversely proportional to those who received Pell Subsidies or other federal grants. Furthermore, the percentage of students receiving loans was adversely and significantly associated with the proportion of students from non-dominant groups and the size of the student body. Free college tuition can provide university education to individuals who would not otherwise be able to pay for it. Public sources and inexpensive tuition have been the objective of community colleges to enhance degree and certificate completion and therefore provide a path to a middle-class existence for everybody. The goal of this study was to see if tuition, particularly low tuition, impacted student performance. Despite the small sample size, tuition does not impact student achievement.
Work cited
Bailey, T., Calcagno, J., Jenkins, D., Leinbach, T., & Kienzl, G. (2006). Is student-right-toknow all you should know? An analysis of community college graduation rates. Research
in Higher Education, 47(5), 491-519.
Esta Pratt-Kielley. The real cost of school for first-generation college students (2018): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/real-cost-school-first-generation-college-students-n1007796. Website.
J Engle. U.S. Dept. of Education. Moving Beyond Success. (2008) https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504448.pdf. Publish.
Mari Luna De La Rosa. The American Behavioral Scientist; Thousand Oaks Vol. 49, Iss. 12, (Aug 2006): 1670-1686. Journal
McDonough, Patricia M; Calderone, Shannon. The American Behavioral Scientist; Thousand Oaks Vol. 49, Iss. 12, (Aug 2006): 1703-1718.
Kantrowitz, Mark. College and University; Washington Vol. 78, Iss. 2, (Fall 2002): 3-10. Journal.
Raikes, M. H., Berling, V. L., & Davis, J. M. (2012). To dream the impossible dream: College graduation in four years. Christian Higher Education, 11(5), 310-319.