Institutional Scholarships Makes a Big Impact - A Study of Student Success at Sacramento State

Transcription

1 Institutional s Makes a Big Impact - A Study of Student Success at Sacramento State The Office of Institutional Research 1. Introduction 3,303 first-time freshmen and 2,068 transfer students have received Institutional s at Sacramento State since 2007 (based upon data provided by the Financial Aid and s Office). On average, 14% of first-time freshmen and 9% of transfers on financial aid have received Institutional as part of their financial aid package. The total scholarship amount was $9,542,026 for first-time freshmen, with an average amount of $2,889 going to each recipient; the total scholarship amount was $5,389,112 for transfers, with an average amount of $2,606 going to each recipient. Please refer to the Table 1 below for more detail: Table 1. Recipients First-time Freshmen Transfers Count % Cohort Count % Cohort Cohorts % 2, % 2, % 2, % 2, % 3, % 3, % 2, % 2, % 2, % 2, % 3, % 3, % 3, % 3, % 3, % 3,695 Total 3, % 24,023 2, % 24,023 Distribution $1--$1,000 1, % % $1,001 --$5,000 1, % % $5, $10, % % Over $10, % % Total Amount % $9,542,026 2, % $5,389,112 Average Dispersal $2,889 $2, Institutional Recipient Profile When comparing Institutional recipients to non-recipients within the same first-time freshmen cohorts, a greater proportion of recipients were female, underrepresented minority, first generation college students, and/or were from low income families. 1

2 In terms of college readiness, recipients earned higher high school GPAs than non-recipients while their SAT scores and the proportion recipients in need of remediation were at levels similar to those of non-recipients. When comparing Institutional recipients to non-recipients within the same transfer cohorts, a lower proportion of recipients were first generation college students and/or were from low income families. However, recipients had higher transfer GPAs upon entry to Sacramento State, and a higher proportion of them majored in Science, Technology, Math and Engineering. All of these differences were statistically significant (See Table 2 below and Table 3 on the following page). Table 2. Comparison of Demographic Characteristics and College Readiness First-time freshmen Recipients n-recipients Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Demographic Characteristics Gender Female 2, % 11, % Gap Total Count 14,063 Male 1, % 8, % 6.7% 9,960 Race/Ethnicity Statistical Significance URM 1, % 7, % 8, % n-urm 1, % 13, % 15,443 First Generation College Student 1, % 6, % 7, % 1, % 13, % 14,918 Low Income (Pell Grant Eligible) 1, % 10, % 12, % 1, % 10, % 11,912 Commuter Status Living on Campus 1, % % 7, % Commuter 2, % 14, % 16,991 College Readiness Need Remediation 1, % % 14, % Remediation 1, % % 9,582 Test Scores HS GPA 3, , ,966 SAT Verbal 2, , ,338 SAT Math 2, , ,334 * T-test or Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow; p<.01, higher value is highlighted in green. 2

3 Table 3. Comparison of Demographic Characteristics Transfers Recipients n-recipients Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Demographic Characteristics Gender Female 1, % 15, % Gap Total Count 16,323 Male % 11, % 1.4% 12,564 Race/Ethnicity Statistical Significance URM % 6, % 6, % n-urm 1, % 20, % 22,181 First Generation College Student % 6, % 7, % 1, % 18, % 19,935 Low Income (Pell Grant Eligible) 1, % 12, % 13, % 1, % 14, % 15,791 Commuter Status Living on Campus % 1, % 1, % Commuter 1, % 25, % 27,522 Transfer GPA 1, , ,985 * T-test or Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow; p<.01, higher value is highlighted in green. 3. Academic Performance of Institutional Recipients Institutional s provided financial support to students and helped them to succeed at Sacramento State. When comparing academic performance, scholarship recipients outperformed non-recipients in terms of overall GPA, Good standing rate, unit completion in first college year, 1-year retention, and 4-year/6-year graduation. Although other factors also contributed toward the academic success of these students, Institutional s were a contributing factor which undoubtedly had a significant positive impact on their academic performance (See graphs and Tables 4 and 5 on following pages). 3

4 Comparison of Academic Performance (First-time Freshmen) Recipients n-recipients 100.0% 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% 91.3% 88.7% 82.7% 79.1% 59.1% 38.8% 1st Year Pass Rate 1-year Retention 6-Year Graduation Comparison of Academic Performance (Transfers) Recipients n-recipients 120.0% 100.0% 80.0% 60.0% 99.7% 98.9% 93.4% 84.3% 78.6% 61.6% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% 1st Year Pass Rate 1-year Retention 4-Year Graduation te: The numbers in red show the significant differences. 4

5 Table 4. Academic Performance of First-time Freshmen Recipients n-recipients Total Statistical Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Gap Count Significance First Year Overall GPA Term 1 GPA 3, , ,023 Term 2 GPA 3, , ,672 First Year Pass Rate (Overall GPA>=2.0) Pass 2, % 16, % 8.6% 19,026 t Pass % 3, % 3,646 First Year Unit Completion Overall Unit , ,672 Unit per term STEM Major % 4, % -0.4% 5,727 2, % 15, % 18,296 1-Year Retention ( Cohorts) Persisted % 13, % 9.6% 16,352 Withdrew % 3, % 3,976 6-Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % 1, % 20.4% 2,133 t Graduated % 2, % 2,958 *Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow; p<.01, higher value is highlighted in green. te: STEM majors were based on the status of first semester. 5

6 Table 5. Academic Performance of Transfers Recipients n-recipients Total Statistical Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Gap Count Significance First Year Overall GPA Term 1 GPA 2, , ,887 Term 2 GPA 2, , ,706 First Year Pass Rate (Overall GPA>=2.0) Pass 1, % 24, % 0.8% 26,420 t Pass 7 0.3% % 286 First Year Unit Completion Overall Unit , ,706 Unit per term STEM Major % 3, % 6.3% 4,256 1, % 22, % 24,631 1-Year Retention ( Cohorts) Persisted % 19, % 9.1% 21,507 Withdrew % 3, % 3,803 4-Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % 7, % 17.0% 8,770 t Graduated % 4, % 5,128 *Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow; p<.01, higher value is highlighted in green. te: STEM majors were based on the status of first semester. 4. Comparison of the Academic Performance of Matched Groups Through utilization of the new Case-Control Matching feature within SPSS, this study was able to match the scholarship recipients with non-recipients within first-time freshmen and transfers. It selected 5,870 first-time freshmen and 5,422 transfers from both scholarship recipients and non-recipients, which consisted of approximately 70.7% of the total number of scholarship recipients within first-time freshmen and 85% of the total number of scholarship recipients within transfers. The resulting matched groups showed no significant differences in terms of demographic characteristics and college readiness. In other words, both groups came from the similar background when comparing their performance. The Table 6 and Table 7 demonstrate the findings: 6

7 Table 6 Comparison of Demographic Characteristics and College Readiness First-time freshmen Recipients n-recipients Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Demographic Characteristics Gender Female % 1, % Gap Total Count 2,311 Male 1, % 2, % 0.6% 4,363 Race/Ethnicity Statistical Significance URM 1, % 1, % 2, % n-urm 1, % 2, % 3,791 First Generation of College Student % 1, % 2, % 1, % 2, % 3,940 Low Income (Pell Grant Eligible) 1, % 2, % 3, % % 1, % 2,844 Commuting Status Living on Campus % % 1, % Commuter 1, % 3, % 4,792 College Readiness Need Remediation 1, % % 3, % Remediation % % 2,693 Test Scores HS GPA 2, , ,674 SAT Verbal 2, , ,674 SAT Math 2, , ,674 7

8 Table 7 Comparison of Demographic Characteristics Transfers Recipients n-recipients Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Demographic Characteristics Gender Female % 1, % Gap Total Count 2,217 Male 1, % 2, % -0.1% 3,027 Race/Ethnicity Statistical Significance URM % % 1, % n-urm 1, % 2, % 3,986 First Generation of College Student % % 1, % 1, % 2, % 3,751 Low Income (Pell Grant Eligible) % 1, % 2, % % 1, % 2,635 Commuting Status Living on Campus % % % Commuter 1, % 3, % 5,038 Transfer GPA 1, , ,244 Interestingly, the findings of the comparisons of the matched groups and those for all recipients and all non-recipients were quite similar: In relation to the matched groups, scholarship recipients once again outperformed non-recipients in terms of overall GPA, unit completion and pass rate during first college year as well as 1-year retention, 2/4-year graduation and 4/6-year graduation. The only change was the pass rate between scholarship recipients and non-recipients which showed no significant difference within transfers. In addition, the performance gaps between participants and non-participants were also slightly reduced. However, those differences were still statistically significant. Please see the graphs and Table 8-9 on following pages: 8

9 Comparison of Academic Performance (First-time Freshmen) Recipients n-recipients 100.0% 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% 91.2% 85.4% 88.5% 81.3% 60.7% 45.9% 11.9% 8.5% 1st Year Pass Rate 1-year Retention 4-Year Graduation 6-Year Graduation Comparison of Academic Performance (Transfers) Recipients n-recipients 120.0% 100.0% 80.0% 60.0% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% 99.7% 93.5% 99.8% 79.8% 85.0% 64.4% 24.0% 21.3% 1st Year Pass Rate 1-year Retention 2-Year Graduation 4-Year Graduation 9

10 Table 8 Academic Performance of First-time Freshmen Recipients n-recipients Total Statistical Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Gap Count Significance First Year Overall GPA Term 1 GPA 2, , ,674 Term 2 GPA 2, , ,391 First Year Pass Rate (Overall GPA>=2.0) Pass 2, % 3, % 5.8% 5,590 t Pass % % 801 First Year Unit Completion Overall Unit , ,391 Unit per term STEM Major % % 0.9% 1,388 1, % 3, % 5,286 1-Year Retention ( Cohorts) Persisted % 3, % 7.2% 4,918 Withdrew % % Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % % 3.4% 323 t Graduated 1, % 2, % 3,025 6-Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % % 14.8% 763 t Graduated % % 742 *Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow, p<.01, higher value is highlighted in Green. te: STEM majors were based on the status of first semester. 10

11 Table 9 Academic Performance of Transfers Recipients n-recipients Total Statistical Count %\Mean Count %\Mean Gap Count Significance First Year Overall GPA Term 1 GPA 1, , ,244 Term 2 GPA 1, , ,937 First Year Pass Rate (Overall GPA>=2.0) Pass 1, % 3, % -0.1% 4,924 t Pass 5 0.3% 8 0.2% 13 First Year Unit Completion Overall Unit , ,937 Unit per term STEM Major % % 0.4% 1,019 1, % 2, % 4,225 1-Year Retention ( Cohorts) Persisted % 2, % 8.5% 4,608 Withdrew % % Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % % 2.7% 1,164 t Graduated 1, % 2, % 4,080 4-Year Graduation ( Cohorts) Graduated % 1, % 15.4% 2,737 t Graduated % 1, % 1,262 *Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow, p<.05, higher value is highlighted in blue. te: STEM majors were based on the status of first semester. 11