Did the Recession Impact Student Success? Relationships of Finances, Staffing and Institutional Type on Retention

Economic recessions impact higher education institutions in complex ways. Several analyses have examined the influence of the 2007–2009 recession on tuition, enrollments, revenues, and expenditures, but the connection of these resource allocation patterns to a student success outcome—namely, retenti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inResearch in higher education Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 174 - 197
Main Authors Gansemer-Topf, Ann M., Downey, Jillian, Thompson, Katherine, Genschel, Ulrike
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer 01.03.2018
Springer Netherlands
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Academic Persistence
College Freshmen
Correlation
Dependency theory
Economic Climate
Education
Employment Patterns
Enrollment
Expenditures
Higher Education
Income
Private Colleges
Public Colleges
Recessions
Resource Allocation
Retention
Tuition
Workforce planning
Institutional selectivity
Recession
Retention
Resource allocation
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Economic recessions impact higher education institutions in complex ways. Several analyses have examined the influence of the 2007–2009 recession on tuition, enrollments, revenues, and expenditures, but the connection of these resource allocation patterns to a student success outcome—namely, retention—is limited. This study examined relationships among institutional expenditures, tuition, and staffing patterns on first-year retention rates at private and public institutions in 2007, 2009 and 2011: before, during, and after the economic recession. Private and public institutions increased tuition during this time period and increased expenditures. Expenditures most directly educating students (i.e. instruction) and institutional selectivity were positively associated with retention. However, public and private institutions differed in how they allocated their expenditures. That the findings correspond with past research investigating relationships between resource allocation and retention illustrate principles of the resource dependency theory (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978): institutions impacted by external economic changes, adjust revenues, staffing, and expenditures during economic changes.
ISSN:0361-0365
1573-188X
DOI:10.1007/s11162-017-9462-2