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8 The New Inequality The analyses of changes in access to higher education during the past three decades of the twentieth century (chapters 5–7) confirm two essential understandings about the role of finances. First, changes in federal student aid and state finance policies correspond with trends in access to higher education (i.e., participation rates) and equal opportunity (i.e., the gap in participation across income and racial/ethnic groups). Second, evaluation studies that examine the direct effects of aid packages confirm conclusions about the inadequacy of aid for low-income students since the late 1980s. There are sound reasons to argue that raising educational standards may have enabled more high school graduates to enroll in college, but the academic preparation rationale does not explain the new inequality. We need a more balanced approach than the one used by the National Center for Education Statistics (1997a,b) to build an understanding of the root causes of the new inequality. The findings thus far do not resolve the dispute about the causes of the new inequality in access, the opportunity gap that opened after 1980. Critics of the efficacy of student aid could conclude that low-income students enroll at lower rates because they are not academically prepared (Finn 2001; NCES 1997a). Unfortunately, these analyses were based on a logical model that overlooked the role of finances. NCES finds a correlation between academic preparation and college enrollment but does not consider how finances influenced the marginal differences in enrollment rates reported in its own studies of access. To further demonstrate that finances are the root cause of the new inequality, this chapter reexamines analyses reported by NCES in a study of the high school class of 1992. First, I propose a new logical model that carries forward the NCES’s “academic pipeline” model but also considers the direct and indirect effects of financial aid. Second, I reexamine the statistics in the NCES report (1997a) using a balanced logical model. I conclude with some intermediate understandings of the role of finances. 152 jhup.stjohn.000-000_jhup.stjohn.000-000.qxd 5/16/14 8:27 AM Page 152 A Balanced Logical Model In efforts to untangle the relative effects of finances and academic preparation, we need to consider the dual nature of access. Studies that examine the causes and cures of the opportunity gap should examine two types of access—academic and financial (chapter 3): —Academic access is determined by institutional admissions decisions, which are based on a review of students’ academic qualifications and applications for admission. —Financial access is the ability to afford initial and continuous enrollment ; it can be influenced by governmental and institutional aid subsidies , college costs, and family incomes and savings. This distinction helps clarify the role of family finances and student aid in the academic pipeline to college. The balanced access model (fig. 8.1) provides a more complete way of viewing financial and academic access that is consistent with the two main streams of prior research. First, the definition of academic access is conceptually aligned with the criteria NCES uses to determine qualification. NCES’s pipeline model (NCES 1996a, 1997a,b, 2001a,c) is integrated into the logic of the balanced access model. The new model adapts the NCES pipeline but recognizes that family finances and concerns about college costs have an in- fluence on academic preparation. The reconstructed pipeline is as follows: —Family background and income influence student expectations and plans. —Student expectations and plans influence course-taking in high school. —Taking college preparatory courses in high school influences students to take college entrance exams and to apply for college. —Planning for college, taking preparatory courses in high school, and applying for college influence college enrollment (and destination). This reconstructed pipeline is consistent with other, more balanced research on the college enrollment process (e.g., Hossler, Schmit, and Vesper 1999). In addition to acknowledging the role of this academic pipeline process, the balanced access model expands the logic of the NCES model to include the role of family finances, consistent with the definition of financial access given above. Second, the balanced access model recognizes that tuition and financial aid both directly and indirectly influence enrollment decisions, THE NEW INEQUALITY 153 jhup.stjohn.000-000_jhup.stjohn.000-000.qxd 5/16/14 8:27 AM Page 153 [3.142.171.180] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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