In a time of increasing economic inequality, lower levels of government investment in higher education, and rising tuition costs, students vying for a college degree experience financial concerns as important influences on their college experience. An emerging body of literature has focused on the relationship between student finances and academic…

We study the determinants of poor mental health among students at an elite private institution. Survey measures of well-being have declined significantly over the last decade for both high school students and those of college age. This is an international phenomenon that appears to have started in the US around 2013 and that was not caused by but…

This exploratory inferential, single-university study (N=700) joined institutional, external, and survey data to examine how first-year students' food insecurity links to non-cognitive attributes, first-semester performance, and persistence. Regressions indicate LGBTQ, multi-racial, international, transfer, and first-generation students exhibit…

Changes in school environments are sources of instability and stress for children. The social, educational, residential, and familial changes that usually accompany school changes are likely to exacerbate this stress and negatively impact academic performance. The full range of these changes that occur with school changes, and their relative…

Researchers used cross-sectional survey research to reexamine the problem of adult persistence within undergraduate degree programs. They identified a variable--perceived stress--that permitted a richer explanation of the process of student persistence. A model was presented that examined the attitudinal and behavioral impacts of unmet need,…