The Impacts of Financial Aid on Student Suceess at Model College

Abstract

Student debt has increased rapidly in the United States over the past 20 years and totals more than $1.3 trillion dollars. Roughly half of students borrow to pay for tuition and living expenses associated with a college education (Black, Filipek, Furman, Giuliani & Narayan, 2016). Unlike grant aid, these forms of aid place additional, continuing responsibilities on students which impact them long after graduation. As Model College aims to diversify its enrollment and position itself to attract and retain more students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, the University is undertaking the bold step of ensuring that many of its students can obtain an education loan free. Achieving this goal would better position Model’s graduates for present and future success without the burden of heavy debt loads. This capstone project aims to research the effects of expected student loan debt and campus employment on student success and on the campus experience at Model College.