Need-Based Aid, Participation in Education Abroad, and Program Type Choice (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Student Financial Aid
Although education abroad in the US offers participants demonstrable benefits, direct and opportunity costs are cited as primary barriers to broader participation. Yet the degree to which low-income status deters studying abroad and whether additional need-based aid beyond Pell Grants encourages participation remain uncertain. Moreover, not all education abroad programs are equivalent in terms of costs. This study is the first to examine whether need-based aid recipients differentially choose programs of varying duration or programs offered by various provider types. The sample consisted of 221,981 students from 36 institutions of the Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education (CASSIE). Within that sample, 60,477 received Pell grants. Of those recipients, 39% received additional need-based aid. Regression models controlling for student background and context indicated that Pell grant recipients were 3% less likely to study abroad than peers receiving no such aid, and receipt of additional aid increased likelihood by 1% relative to Pell-only recipients. While aid was unrelated to study abroad duration, lowincome students were less likely to study with third-party providers. The findings invite financial aid officers to determine thresholds of additional aid necessary to increase participation and to collaborate more systematically with counterparts in international education.
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad
Researchers compared Pell eligible and non Pell eligible undergraduate students’ pre study abroad GPA and graduation GPAs and time to graduation. The results indicated a longer time to graduation for Pell eligible students. However, Pell eligible students who had studied abroad graduated with comparable GPAs to their non Pell study abroad peers four and six years post matriculation. The results suggest that study abroad did not create an undue burden that impeded the success of students from low income households. We discuss implications for funding priorities, university development offices, and study abroad advising.
The Journal of Higher Education
This study utilized the large-scale, multi-institutional CASSIE dataset to examine the impact of education abroad participation on academic outcomes for first-generation college students. Using robust multivariate matching methodology that effectively minimized self-selection bias, results showed the magnitude of benefit offered by studying abroad was greater for first-generation students than for continuing-generation students. Even after matching on a variety of background and prior achievement variables, first-generation students who studied abroad had higher 4-and 6-year graduation rates, had higher cumulative GPA scores, and took less time to graduate-relative to first-generation students who did not study abroad. These findings suggest that education abroad programming can be leveraged as a high-impact educational practice to promote college completion rates among first-generation students.
2016
The purpose of this study was to assess the predictive effect of participation in study abroad and earned credits abroad on persistence degree attainment, and time-to-degree of undergraduate students. The analysis was based on the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) and the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B), which are national data sets maintained by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis accounted for student characteristics, academic preparation, social integration, and academic integration. The findings revealed that participation in study abroad and earned credits abroad positively affected persistence and degree completion of undergraduate students in the U.S., and are associated with shorter time-to-degree. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down.
Relying heavily on case or regional studies, higher education institutions market the perceived global skills that students acquire from education abroad as a value-added commodity. As industries increase their global reach, understanding the labor market effects of education abroad from a national perspective is necessary and timely. This study isolates many factors known to influence education abroad using the 2008–2012 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study dataset (B&B: 08/12). Through a 2- level hierarchical linear regression analysis model, earning levels of graduates of undergraduate programs are analyzed, offering a national perspective. The findings revealed that students who participated in education abroad earned more money within the labor market, even during harsh recessionary times. While income differences observed between men and women existed in both samples, initial incomes during the first three years postgraduation demonstrated significantly higher wages for some students who studied abroad when compared to their nonparticipating peers.
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2021
Prior research documents that, even after controlling for a variety of potentially potent student background and achievement factors, education abroad exerts favorable effects on indices of college student success, such as timely college completion. Racial-ethnic minority students, however, are both generally underrepresented in education abroad participation and can be disproportionately at risk of not completing their degrees. This article reports findings from the Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education (CASSIE) to assess whether racial-ethnic minority students receive a boost in student success by virtue of studying abroad. CASSIE received data from 36 U.S. institutions covering Fall 2010 and Fall 2011 first-time freshman cohorts. The final sample consisted of 221,981 students, 30,649 of whom had studied abroad. Using statistical matching techniques to minimize effects of confounding factors such as high school grade point average (GPA) or college major, students from six racial-ethnic groups who studied abroad were compared with students from their own groups who did not. Results showed that racialethnic minority students who participated in education abroad demonstrated a higher likelihood of timely graduation and higher GPA at graduation, relative to otherwise similar students who did not study abroad. The magnitudes of those benefits exceeded those increments experienced by White students. Racial-ethnic minority students who studied abroad on average required a few additional credit hours at graduation, yet time to graduation was fractionally lower compared to students from the same racial-ethnic group who did not study abroad. These findings warrant strong efforts to recruit and support racial-ethnic minority students to participate in education abroad.
Education Abroad and College Completion
Research in Higher Education, 2022
While some stakeholders presume that studying abroad distracts students from efficient pursuit of their programs of study, others regard education abroad as a high impact practice that fosters student engagement and hence college completion. The Consortium for Analysis of Student Success through International Education (CASSIE), compiled semester-by-semester records from 221,981 students across 35 institutions. Of those students, 30,549 had studied abroad. Using nearest-neighbor matching techniques that accounted for a myriad of potentially confounding variables along with matching on institution, the analysis found positive impacts of education abroad on graduation within 4 and 6 years and on cumulative GPA at graduation. A very small increase in credit hours earned emerged, counterbalanced by a small decrease in time-to-degree associated with studying abroad. Overall, the results warrant conclusions that studying abroad does not impede timely graduation. To the contrary, encouraging students to study abroad promotes college completion. These results held similarly for students who had multiple study abroad experiences, and who have studied abroad for varying program lengths.