Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream

“and fees, room and board, and educational supplies (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“As the price of college has increased for students and their families in recent decades, affordability is key to understanding student actions and outcomes (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“While foundational research from the perspectives of college employees has been conducted (Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Broton et al., 2014; Crutchfield, 2016), more exploration in both of these systems is necessary to provide amultidimensional view of how practices that deter higher education…”

“…long been highlighted in socially focused policy (Stiglitz, 2012) and widely highlighted in higher education policy, for example, in discussions surrounding Pell grants (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Kreighbaum, 2017) and emerging discourse on who deserves to access other Promise programs (McCullough, 2018).”

“As has been well documented in the literature, the cost of college is high and presents challenges especially for lower income households (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“…to food insecurity, including the rising cost of college (Goldrick-Rab 2016), policies that limit access to SNAP (Dickinson 2022), limited finances (Goldrick-Rab 2016), time constraints (Gaines et al. 2014; Henry 2017), transportation challenges (Hughes et al. 2011), and housing issues (Mirabitur…”

“Many students must choose between buying textbooks or food; between working while in school or focusing on their studies; and even between remaining in school or dropping out.(3) Recent research has focused on the prevalence of campus food insecurity and its impact on academic success.”

“Since the benefits of achieving a 4-year degree are well known (e.g., J. Ma, Pender, and Welch 2019), students struggle to meet these costs, with some suffering from homelessness and food inse-curity (Goldrick-Rab 2016).”

“Hegemonic ideologies justify the use of other domains of power such as discipline because exercise of such power “protects” the social order, in this case, ensuring low-income and/or students of color do not receive money they do not deserve, though there is not sufficient evidence to merit financial verification proc…”

“Applicants with an incarceration history must also navigate federal and state financial aid procedures, often a daunting task even for those somewhat versed in those systems (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“…such research is necessary for ongoing systemic improvements to the quality of education offered at such universities (Conner et al., 2022; Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Riposa, 2003; Tierney, 2021) Approaching adversity differently aligns with research that is accumulating related to strengths…”

“…have adopted financial policies including short-term, interest-free loans for students anticipating financial aid but have not yet received the payment; these loans provide students with the assurance they will not be dropped from rosters due to non-payment (Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“This trend, though, still involves going offcampus (Sobania, 2015), with the associated costs and logistical challenges, particularly for students with jobs and children, who make up a significant percentage of college students today (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“ing time on campus,” which means “fewer opportunities to build relationships that could pave the way for social networks yielding greater returns to the college degree”.(5) Students who take on loans but fail to graduate face the economic stress of having college debt to repay without the (sometimes slim) employment b…”

“This assumes that students’ families have paid the expected family contribution and is based on the federal estimated cost of attendance, which may already underestimate the true cost of attendance for many marginalized students (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Wladis et al., 2018).”

“Many students work to help cover college expenses (Goldrick-Rab, 2016 ), and these additional hours spent working can take away from spending time in other ways.”

“Work is a central feature of the undergraduate experience (Goldrick-Rab 2016; Pascarella and Terenzini 2005).”

“With that, the proportion of students who work and those who have caregiving responsibilities has also increased (Bowen et al. , 2009; Goldrick-Rab and Sorensen, 2010; Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“size, student body composition, affordability, and generosity of public funding shown to influence credential production in prior research (Russell, 2019; Dale & Krueger, 2014; Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Deming & Walters, 2017).”

“Data for this study were obtained independently, not directly from the program that offered the grants, to avoid interaction effects that could compromise the research or program (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Goldrick-Rab et al., 2016).”

“As in Edelman, this ‘‘ignorance’’ is structurally determined— here by the opacity of college pricing (Goldrick-Rab 2016).”

“Significant attention has been paid to the influence of grants and student loans on the college-going and college-completing process (Goldrick-Rab 2016; Mayhew et al., 2016), but this paper suggests that additional financial factors like students’ credit card use should be considered in this area of research as well.”

“And family support and other social and cultural resource differences translate into unequal outcomes among students even within the same institution (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Hamilton, 2016).”

“Failure to earn one’s degree can lead to years of economic hardship as individuals pursue financially beneficial endeavors while shouldering significant debt (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“shown that work-study and financial aid may not be enough for students to be able to pay for college (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“…and their parents (and policymakers and college officials) also often underestimate the real nontuition costs of college, which include food and housing, transportation to campus, buying expensive books and instructional materials, and foregone earnings (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Hahn & Price, 2008).”

“But for the majority of undergraduates nowadays, college life is no time-out, but often a period of competing pressures from commuting, paid work, family obligations, and educational activities (Perna, 2010; Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs (1943, 1971) is often invoked as a self-evident truism by scholars and activists (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Pettijohn & Pettijohn, 1996).”

“As wages and financial aid supports, such as Pell Grants, have stagnated, working-class students have been forced to work increasing hours that impact their time for studying and classes (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Students’ SES affords multiple academic and social advantages to more affluent students (Crosnoe & Muller, 2014), which are beneficial in navigating institutions and processes developed by and for more affluent persons (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“We also control for financial demands associated with student enrollment behavior including indicators for hours worked in the first year of enrollment, the cost of tuition and fees for the first institution, and the total amount of student loan debt in the firstyear (Bozick, 2007; Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Additional estimates suggest that undergraduates spend 14% of their time, or 3.2 h per day, studying and attending class although low-income students may spend more time (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Mortenson, 2015).”

“Of US families, 75 percent are paying at least 20 percent of their annual income towards higher education, after grants are accounted for (Goldrick-Rab, 2016: 4).”

“More dis ad van taged stu dents are more likely to drop out of col lege (Goldrick-Rab 2006; Lehmann 2007) and may be sad dled with debt asso ci ated with col lege attendance with out the rewards asso ci ated with a col lege degree (Goldrick-Rab 2016).”

“However, the cost of higher education can take a toll especially for first-generation students and any others who face financial hurdles as they try to navigate the higher education pathway (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Low- and moderate-income students have been hit hardest by increasing prices, strengthening ties between household income and college attendance or completion (Bailey & Dynarski, 2011; Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Sara Goldrick-Rab (2016) writes that despite being viewed as key ladders of economic mobility, “community college, an institution most think of as free, is no longer actually free” as “students from families earning an average of just $20,000 a year are required to pay at least $8,000 [i.e., 40% of…”

“…higher education policies focused on equality and not equity (e.g., flat fees for meal plans or student housing instead of sliding scales based upon income) results in disparate experiences and outcomes for first-generation students and students with disabilities (Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Soria, 2015).”

“A more successful system of higher education funding is required that functions with individuals in their endeavors to graduate (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“…important to individuals and the nation at large, the costs of post-secondary education put considerable strain on working and middle-class families – placing students from these families at significant disadvantages for persistence, or even completely closing access (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“Students enrolled at community colleges are often motivated to enroll to improve their family situation (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“, 2019), precollege variables including primary language spoken at home, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, and degree expectations (Carales, 2020), the impact of Covid-19 (CCCSE, 2021; Sullivan & Tinberg, 2020), commuting to college (Dwyer, 2017; Simpson & Burnett, 2019), making campuses safe and welcoming for…”

“These practices may help ensure students’ basic needs are met by decreasing transportation costs and thereby mitigate potential decreased academic performance and alleviate stresses that food and housing insecure students face (Collier et al., 2021; Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Tin et al., 2022).”

“Given the changing landscape of higher education funding and the research that articulates how the burden of funding a college education is increasingly placed on students and their families (Goldrick-Rab, 2016), the findings of this study contribute to the study of what works in retention efforts and the provides an…”

“In addition, students who work off campus often find that there is little flexibility in work schedules, which makes it more challenging to spend time on campus (Goldrick-Rab, 2016).”

“2 This is consistent with other national studies on homelessness in higher education (K. Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2016; Low et al., 2017).”