Financial aid tipping points: an analysis of aid and academic achievement at a California community college

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between financial aid awards and measures of student academic achievement. Financial aid and academic records for 11,956 students attending an urban California community college were examined and analyzed using simultaneous linear regression and two-way factorial ANOVAs. Findings revealed a small inverse relationship between the amount of aid received; thus, students with higher levels of need had slightly lower levels of academic achievement. Further analysis suggests that financial aid awards were able to minimize the negative effects of low income for approximately 70% of financial aid recipients. However, significant differences in grades and the percentage of units completed emerged for the 30% students with the highest demonstrated levels of financial need, suggesting that these students have large levels of unmet need. Implications for institutional and state-level policy as well as for institutional practice are discussed.