ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1639255
Reducing Enrollment Disparities for Prospective Racially Minoritized Graduate Students Through Financial Aid: Evidence from an Online Survey Experiment in the U.S
Provisionally accepted
- California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, United States
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Despite persistent gaps in graduate education enrollment, racially minoritized students remain underrepresented at U.S. institutions. This study examines the impact of financial aid and learning formats on enrollment decisions among these students. Using a mixed factorial design and a nationally distributed online survey with quota sampling, the research focuses on Black, Latin*, and Native American bachelor’s degree holders. Participants were randomly assigned to scenarios with different aid levels (aid vs. no aid) and learning formats (online, hybrid, in-person). Results show that financial aid significantly increases the likelihood of enrollment, preference for full-time study, and belief in improved job prospects with a graduate degree. Learning format, however, had no significant impact on enrollment intentions or perceived outcomes. These findings underscore the significance of financial support in overcoming structural barriers and fostering equity in graduate education. Policy recommendations include expanding need-based aid, simplifying the application process, and improving transparency about graduate outcomes.
Keywords: Higher eduacation, Bachelor's degree completion, Financial aid, Enrollment disparities, experiment, Learning modalities
Received: 01 Jun 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Templeton and Korchagin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Da'Shay Templeton, dtempleton@callutheran.edu
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