People need access to data to make decisions about post-high school experiences, including postsecondary education. Policymakers need to better understand how financial circumstances relate to college enrollment and completion. And students and their families need information about how much financial aid they may have access to for financing their…

Financial Aid Awards for first-time college students include a variety of offerings, including scholarships, grants, and loans. One award of financial assistance, Federal Work-study, is different from other types of financial aid awarded in that students must work to earn the funds. Yet, it is included as estimated financial assistance (EFA) and…

Understanding how students with low socioeconomic status finance their tuition over time can help us comprehend the impact of students' decisions on their subsequent curricular progress, graduation, or dropout. This work presents a curricular analytics approach using process mining techniques to study educational funding trajectories as processes.…

This article presents a national snapshot of GI Bill student enrollment through examination of a repository of data on veterans' education benefits usage, institutional practices to support veterans, and consumer advocacy information (e.g., complaints and caution flags). Through examination of records from 2217 two-year institutions enrolling…

This study aims to develop a list of technological enhancements to a financial aid analytics application (F3A) designed to assist higher education leaders in gaining actionable insights for decision-making with grants optimization. This research utilizes the Design Science Research framework which highlights the design and evaluation of an IT…

In 2014, the close-knit education community in California's rural Humboldt county came together to address the potential to improve students' college readiness and completion. A diverse group of education leaders spanning K-12 through college formed the collaborative, with leadership from the Humboldt County Office of Education. The John W.…

We, as educators, expect students to connect the dots and experience our institutions through a variety of lenses; we must organize ourselves in a way that places synergy, collaboration, and data-driven decisions at the center of our operations. Over the past three years, Ramapo College has worked diligently to ensure that strategy drives the…

The use of data to inform decisionmaking and practice at the school and district levels is now a common feature of reform efforts. Advances in districts' technological capacities have produced data systems that allow a flow of data to and from schools, often to the point of creating an overwhelming flood of information. To make the flow of…

As external forces demand change in the delivery of postsecondary education and institutions seek to take advantage of new opportunities, the potential for achieving higher levels of student and institutional success is vast. New technologies, communication tools, data use, and organizational constructs present key factors in improving the…

High school students seeking to complete a postsecondary degree must properly prepare themselves academically and financially in order to qualify and pay for college. With the use of data, school counselors can target high-achieving students from diverse backgrounds to provide equitable opportunities for all students. In this article, a school…

What problems are involved in the development and organization of data sources used in a research project on student aid? Problems faced are: (1) using data from sources that had combined information into different categories; (2) incomplete data on a topic; (3) the disparity in the numbers of students or dollars reported by different data…

This report examines differences between undergraduates who attended postsecondary institutions in states that provide different levels of student financial aid. The report uses data from the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. The study evaluated how students combine aid types and sources, price of attendance, and personal…

The development of an operational model that would enable a college institutional research unit to improve administrative decision-making by expanding its data base to include new activities not widely recognized throughout the institution is considered. Attention is directed to institutional research as a function within an institution,…

This summary report presents major findings of a study comparing repayment of student loans and the impact of educational debt on students' life decisions in 1985 and 1991. A survey was sent to a random sample of approximately 3,000 borrowers during repayment of their student loans in both 1985 and 1991. Useable surveys were received from 628…

This monograph consists, first, of a brief discussion of the methodology of a study comparing repayment of student loans and the impact of educational debt on students' life decisions in 1985 and 1991, and second, of extensive tables, profiles, and appendices which detail the study's findings. A survey was sent to a random sample of approximately…