Student Florida Atlantic University, United States
Session Abstract: Student retention is shaped by the resources and supports available. Financial aid is known to influence student retention and it is important to reevaluate this claim. Furthermore, this poster looks at the comparison to library support and resources for those students. This poster draws on IPEDS data from Research Universities (Carnegie 15, 16, 17) to examine how institutional spending on library resources interacts with financial aid for first-year retention. This will look at whether investments in support services is useful for institutions that give out a lot of financial aid. The poster presents patterns and the combined effect of library investment and financial aid. The results indicate a statistically significant negative correlation between average financial aid given and student retention. Together, these findings redefine the importance of libraries and academic support in student retention.
