Working Students’ Perceptions of Paying for College: Understanding the Connections between Financial Aid and Work

Based on 22 focus groups conducted at institutions located in a Midwestern metropolitan region, this study explores working, commuting and adult-learner college students’ implicit theories about financial aid policy and seeks to understand how students make sense of their own experiences in paying for college. The institutions participating in the study included two region-serving public universities and two campuses of a multi-campus community...