Date of Award

5-2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Jeffrey S. Williamson

Second Advisor

Dianne Daniels

Third Advisor

Jeffrey S. Williamson

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Community Application, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This investigation examined the different types of federal, state, institutional, employment, and loan programs available to students at an Illinois community college in order to determine the impact of these programs on student graduation rates and grade point averages. The method selected for this analysis was a quasi-experimental design because it allowed the researcher to determine the relationships between multiple preassigned groups. Data was collected from first-time students from multiple academic years and separated into groups based on the type of financial aid received including grants, loans, grants and loans, institutional scholarship, Federal Work Study, and no financial assistance. The independent variables were the different groups of financial aid and the dependent variables were the graduation rate and the grade point average. Findings were consistent with previous research and indicated statistical significance on graduation rates of students who received grants, institutional scholarships, and Federal Work Study over students who received only loans or no financial assistance. No statistical significance was found with grade point average. Based on these findings, it is suggested that community colleges continue to seek ways to make college completion a reality for students with financial need.

Comments

Ed.D. dissertation completed in 2015 for Olivet Nazarene University.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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