Increasing costs and discount rates and decreasing persistence have led to deteriorating net tuition revenue at many colleges and universities. The lack of clarity about the relationship between student persistence and incoming student characteristics was interfering with the development of optimal tuition discounting policy and required research.…

This thesis is a combination of two papers studying the effect of state funding for higher education on the price of education and student enrollment at institutions. The first paper evaluates the effectiveness of student aid in decreasing the price of higher education by investigating what portion of student aid dollars reach targeted students…

This dissertation explored the four-year college experience of first-generation and continuing-generation students at a small private institution. Using Astin's I-E-O model (1970), the following variables in the student experience were considered: precollege student characteristics (input); engagement in academic experiences, cocurricular…

This is the last report on the Commuter Opinion Survey conducted during the spring quarter of 1975 at the University of Tennessee (UT) at Knoxville. It is a complete, detailed report on all findings and tabulations from the survey, including a statement of methodology. An important added feature is a complete cross-tabulation of all results by…

Reasons for the withdrawal of 159 first-semester freshmen from Salem State College, Massachusetts, during the fall 1981 or 1982 semesters were studied. Questionnaire results supported the following assumptions: community problems contribute to student withdrawal, not getting into the dorm contributes to attrition for some students, financial…

Information concerning expenses and income during 1980-81 of 406 randomly selected University of Minnesota undergraduates was obtained through a survey. Undergraduates estimated their total 1980-81 expenses to have been on average $4,286, which was 59 percent more than the $2,690 reported during a similar 1974-75 survey. Students living at home…

The factors influencing attendance at Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, by 1978 high school graduates were studied. Students who had participated in the Post-Secondary Demand and Enrollment Survey of November 1977 and had selected Brandon University as their first choice institution, and randomly selected students who had applied and been…

National and New York State trends in both the cost of higher education and the various types of student aid programs are addressed. Data are provided for 1976-1977, 1981-1982, and 1983-1984. Also provided are estimates of the "net cost" of a college education after taking into account various financial resources (e.g., family…

Relatively little attention has been given to the importance of student earnings in the total financing of postsecondary education. The present study deals with this important question. It attempts to answer these questions: (1) How much are students earning in the aggregate? How much of these earnings are increasing resources to finance…