Financing college is increasingly difficult for many college students and it can be especially difficult for low-income students. Using data from the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program, this study provides a portrait of the 1st and 3rd year experiences of a sample of both high achieving Hispanic scholarship recipients and non-recipients. Applying Nora, Barlow, and Crisp's Student/Institution Engagement Theoretical Model (2005), we show how freedom from the stressors of paying for college enables students to become more engaged in academics and campus leadership activities even as we control for equally high levels of ability and involvement prior to college entry.
References
1.
AdelmanC. (1999). Answers in the toolbox: Academic intensity, attendance patterns, and bachelor's degree attainment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
2.
AdelmanC. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
3.
AstinA. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25(3), 297–308.
4.
AstinA. W. (1993). What matters in college? Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
5.
AstinA. W., & OsegueraL. (2003). Degree attainment rates at American colleges and universities. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute.
6.
AstinA. W., & OsegueraL. (2005). Pre-college and institutional differences on degree attainment. In SeidmanA. (Ed.), College student retention: Formula for success (pp. 245–276). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
7.
AstinA. W., & SaxL. (1998). How undergraduates are affected by service participation. Journal of College Student Development, 39(3), 251–263.
8.
BerknerL.HeS., & CattaldiE. F. (2002). Descriptive summary of 1995–96 beginning postsecondary students: Six years later. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
9.
BraxtonJ. M., & LienL. A. (2000). The variability of academic integration as a central construct in Tinto's interactionalist theory of college student departure. In BraxtonJ. (Ed.), Reworking the student departure puzzle (pp. 11–28). Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
10.
CabreraA. F.NoraA.PascarellaE.TerenziniP., & HagedornL. (1999). Campus racial climate and the adjustment of students to college: A comparison between white students and African-American students. Journal of Higher Education, 70(2), 134–160.
11.
CabreraA. F.NoraA., & CastanedaM. B. (1992). The role of finances in the persistence process: A structural model. Research in Higher Education, 33(3), 571–593.
12.
CarterD. F. (2001). A dream deferred? Examining the degree aspirations of African American and white college students. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
13.
ChenX. (2005). First generation students in postsecondary education. A look at their transcripts (NCES 2005–171). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
14.
ConchasG. Q. (2001). Structuring failure and success: Understanding the variability in Latino school engagement. Harvard Educational Review, 70(3), 475–504.
15.
ConchasG. Q. (2006). The color of success: Race and high achieving urban youth. New York: Teachers College Press.
16.
DensonN.OsegueraL., & HurtadoS. (in press). A profile of Hispanic students transitioning to college: The impact of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. In St. JohnE. P. (Ed.), Readings on Equal Education, 23.
17.
ErismanW., & McSwainC. (2006). Expanding access and opportunity. The impact of the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program. Institute for Higher Education Policy Report. Retrieved from www.ihep.org on September 18, 2006.
18.
FelicianoC. (2006). Unequal origins: Immigrant selection and the education of the second generation. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing.
19.
FryR. (2002). Latinos in higher education: Many enroll, too few graduate. Los Angeles: Pew Hispanic Center.
20.
GarciaE. (2001). Hispanic education in the United States: Raices y Alas. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
21.
HellerD. (2002). Conditions of access: Higher education for lower-income students. Westport, CT: American Council on Education/Praeger Series on Higher Education.
22.
HurtadoS. (2003). Preparing college students for a diverse democracy. Final report to the U.S. Department of Education, OERI, Field Initiated Studies Program. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education.
23.
HurtadoS., & CarterD. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students' sense of belonging. Sociology of Education, 70, 342–345.
24.
HurtadoS.CarterD. F., & SpulerA. (1996). Latino student transition to college: Assessing difficulties and factors in successful college adjustment. Research in Higher Education, 37, 135–157.
25.
HurtadoS.LairdNelson T. F., & PerorazioT. E. (2004). The transition to college for low-income students: The impact of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. In St. JohnE. P. (Ed.), Readings on equal education (Vol. 20): Improving access and college success for diverse students. Brooklyn, NY: AMS Press, Inc.
26.
JasinskiJ. F. (2000). Beyond high school: An examination of Hispanic educational attainment. Social Science Quarterly, 81(1), 276–290.
27.
KerkvlietJ., & NowellC. (2005). Does one size fit all? University differences in the influence of wages, financial aid, and integration on student retention. Economics of Education Review, 24, 85–95.
28.
LlagasC., & SnyderT. D. (2003). Status and trends in the education of Hispanics. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
29.
MalletteB. I., & CabreraA. (1991). Determinants of withdrawal behavior: An exploratory study. Research in Higher Education, 32(2), 179–194.
30.
National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). Annual report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
31.
NogueraP. (2003). City schools and the American dream: Reclaiming the promise of public education. New York: Teachers College Press.
32.
NoraA. (1987). Determinants of retention among Chicano college students. Research in Higher Education, 26(1), 31–59.
33.
NoraA. (2004). The role of habitus and cultural capital in choosing a college, transitioning from high school to a higher education, and persisting in college among minority and non-minority students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3(2), 180–208.
34.
NoraA.BarlowL., & CrispG. (2005). Student persistence and degree attainment beyond the first year in college. In SeidmanA. (Ed.), College student retention: Formula for success (pp. 129–153). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
35.
NoraA.BarlowL., & CrispG. (2006). An assessment of Hispanic students in four-year institutions of higher education. In GloriaA. M.CastellanosJ., & KamimuraM. (Eds.), The Latina/o pathway to the Ph.D. (pp. 55–78). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
36.
NoraA., & CabreraA. F. (1996). The role of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination on the adjustment to college. Journal of Higher Education, 67(2), 119–148.
37.
NORC. (2003). Gates Millennium Scholars tracking and longitudinal study. Year 1 final report. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center (Available at http://www2.norc.org/gatesscholars/public/gms.html).
38.
NORC. (2006a). A comparative analysis of the background characteristics, early outcomes, and experiences of the second cohort of Gates Millennium Scholars. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center (Available at http://www.norc.org/gatesscholars).
39.
NORC. (2006b). A cross-cohort (Cohorts I, II, III and V) comparison of the background characteristics of the GMS scholars and the non-recipients. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center.
40.
NunezA. M., & Cuccaro-AlaminS. (1998). First-generation students: Undergraduates whose parents never enrolled in postsecondary education (NCES 98–082). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
41.
OlivasM. (1997). Research on Latino college students: A theoretical framework and inquiry. In DarderA.TorresR., & GutiérrezH. (Eds.), Latinos and education: A critical reader. New York: Routledge.
42.
OsegueraL. (2005–2006). Four and six-year baccalaureate degree completion by institutional characteristics and racial/ethnic groups. Journal of College Student Retention, 7(1–2), 19–59.
43.
PascarellaE. T., & TerenziniP. (1980). Predicting persistence and voluntary dropout decisions from a theoretical model. Journal of Higher Education, 51(1), 60–75.
44.
PernaL. W. (1998). The contribution of financial aid to undergraduate persistence. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 28(3), 25–40.
45.
President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. (2003, March). From risk to opportunity: Fulfilling the educational needs of Hispanic Americans in the 21st century. Washington, DC: Author.
46.
RendonL. (1994). Validating culturally diverse students: Toward a new model of learning and student development. Innovative Higher Education, 19(1), 23–32.
47.
RomeroM.Hondagneu-SoteloP., & OrtizV. (1997). Challenging fronteras: Structuring Latina and Latino lives in the U.S.New York: Routledge.
48.
SaxL. J., & AstinA. W. (1997). The benefits of service: Evidence from undergraduates. Educational Record, 78(3), 25–32.
49.
SingellL. D. (2004). Come and stay a while: Does financial aid affect retention conditioned on enrollment at a large public university?Economics of Education Review, 23, 459–471.
50.
SolorzanoD. G., & YossoT. J. (2000). Toward a critical race theory of Chicana and Chicano education. In TejedaC.MartinezC., & LeonardoZ. (Eds.), Charting new terrains of Chicana(o)/Latina(o) education. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
51.
SomersP. (1995). A comprehensive model for examining the impact of financial aid on enrollment and persistence. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 25(1), 13–27.
52.
SotoL. D.SmrekarJ., & NoveckiD. (1999, Spring). Preserving home languages and cultures in the classroom: Challenges and opportunities (Vol. 20). Directions in Language and Education. National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
53.
St. JohnE. P.CabreraA.NoraA., & AskerE. (2000). Economic influences on persistence reconsidered: How can finance research inform the conceptualization of persistence models? In BraxtonJ. (Ed.), Reworking the student departure puzzle (pp. 29–47). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt Press.
54.
St. JohnE. P. & ChungC. (2004). The impact of GMS on Financial Access: Analyses of the 2000 Freshman Cohort. Readings in Equal Education, 20, 115–152.
55.
St. JohnE.KishsteinR. J., & NoellJ. (1991). The effects of student financial aid on persistence: A sequential analysis. Review of Higher Education, 14, 383–406.
56.
St. JohnE. P.PaulsenB., & StarkeyJ. B. (1996). The nexus between college choice and persistence. Research in Higher Education, 37(2), 175–220.
57.
SteeleC. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613–629.
58.
Suárez-OrozcoC., & Suárez-OrozcoM. M. (2001). Children of immigrants. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
59.
Suárez-OrozcoM. M., & PáezM. (2002). The research agenda. In Suarez-OrozcoM. & PáezM. (Eds.), Latinos: Remaking America (pp. 1–37). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
60.
TintoV. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Education Research, 45, 89–125.
61.
TintoV. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
62.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Population by race and Hispanic or Latino origin, for all ages and for 18 years and over, for the United States: 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.
63.
ZimowskiM. F. (2006). A portrait of the inaugural and second cohorts of Gates Millennium Scholars and non-recipients. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center.
