| Persistence theorists emphasize the importance of faculty and staff interactions with students. Yet many overlook how affordability influences a student's decision to remain enrolled. As a result this qualitative, grounded theory study addresses the relationship between private college and university financial assistance policies and programs to persistence levels of undergraduate students reporting a diminished ability to pay. Two specific research questions guided the study: what financial aid programs and policies have been implemented in response to a student's reported diminished ability to pay and how these programs and polices impacted student persistence? In gathering the data, the researcher interviewed six financial aid administrators, all members of a 20-institution private college and university consortium group in the South. The researcher triangulated the data through the review of financial aid student programs, in-person interviews, and researcher field notes allowing for three themes from within the data to emerge. The themes fell into three distinct categories: (a) reason for the diminished ability to pay; (b) the education needed for faculty, staff, and students on financial aid programs; and (c) policies and programming funding levels available for students who present a diminished ability to pay. While the reasoning for the initially presented diminished ability to pay varied slightly due to institutional geographic location, the fact that all administrators agreed that additional financial aid can impact student persistence cannot be ignored. The study includes recommendations for policy and procedure development and methods for increased campus communication. Furthermore, the concept of incorporating financial aid administrators into the affordability discussion at an institutional level is reviewed as a solution to addressing persistence concerns as they relate to students who present a diminished ability to pay. |
