THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENT AID ON WITHIN-YEAR PERSISTENCE BY TRADITIONAL COLLEGE-AGE STUDENTS IN 4-YEAR COLLEGES

This paper uses the 1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study to c ompare five alternative approaches for assessing the influence of stud ent aid on within-year persistence by traditional college-age students enrolled in four-year colleges. Three conclusions were drawn from the research. First, models that included tuition charges better predicte d within-year persistence than models that did not include this indepe ndent variable. Second, the use of multiple approaches for measuring t he influence of student aid provided more insight into the ways studen t aid policies influence persistence than any single approach. Third, tuition charges had a consistent negative influence on persistence.