Financial Aid and its Affect on Grade Point Average - Research Proposal Example

Using an exploratory research design, the researcher will investigate whether merit-based financial support to the students has any considerable effect on the class and exam performances of students or not. Problem Statement The problem statement for the research paper is: "Financial aid plays a significant role in improving the grade point average of first year students of both private and public higher education institutes". Conceptual Framework Aim of the Research Merit-based financial aid programs help both poor and academically brilliant students to study in prestigious institutes and prove their academic skills and potential.

Such schemes not only provide a chance for the students with high academic potential to get higher education but also play a valuable role in improving overall class grade point average. The researcher believes that when students having academic brilliance will get a chance to study in high quality educational settings, they will also provide academic support to other students which will consequently increase their GPAs as well. Therefore, the research in this area holds great importance. The aim of this research is to identify whether financial aid programs play a considerable role in improving the academic performances of students or not.

The researcher will also examine the structure of financial aid being provided to students in both public and private institutes. The researcher will examine the data collected from 3 public and 2 private institutes and will analyze them to come up with the final stand point. Literature Review There has been some research in the area of student retention and higher education access through the implementation of financial aid programs in higher education institutes. According to Alon, the results of previous researches in this field provided all sorts of effects, which include positive, negative, and mixed (122).

However, positive effects overshadow the negative effects as provided by the research. The main reason behind positive effects as provided by Alon in this regard is that students get the time to concentrate on studies instead of finding ways to earn money. A recent research aimed at identifying the effects of financial aid programs found that the retention rate of aid recipients is usually high which may be because of the fact that students like to be the part of the institute which provide them with financial support during the whole duration of the course (Kuh et al. 545). As Curs and Harper state, “merit-based financial aid has a positive and significant effect on first-year collegiate grade point average” (627).

Other researchers studying the effects of both need-based and merit-based financial aid programs have also found that merit-based programs have more significant effects as compared to the need-based programs (Stater 782). Merit-based financial aid programs are also associated with a number of positive outcomes, such as high rate of retention, increased motivation among students, creation of a collaborative learning environment, completion of the study program, and increased academic competition among students (Dynarski 285).

Methodology The researcher will perform a deep analysis of the data gathered from 5 public and private