2008-2009 Dissertation Fellows

Deborah Warnock

Debbie Warnock is a doctoral candidate in Sociology at the University of Washington. Her research interests are in the areas of sociology of education, social stratification, race/ethnicity and gender. Her dissertation focuses on the effect that perceived ability to pay for college has on students' educational expectations, college preparedness, and college choice and enrollment. She is especially interested in assessing the ways in which race and socioeconomic status may moderate these relationships, especially for students from underrepresented groups. In addition to being named a Fellow by the West Coast Poverty Center, Debbie was named the 2008-09 Cameron Fincher Dissertation Fellow by the Association for Institutional Research.

WCPC Funded Project:

Deborah Warnock, Department of Sociology, "When Does Money Matter? Examining the Effect of Parents’ Perceptions of Financial Aid on Students’ College Expectations, Preparedness, and Enrollment" Faculty Supervisor Barbara F. Reskin, Department of Sociology

Research has shown that parents’ knowledge of and access to financial aid affect students’ college enrollment and completion rates (Dynarski 2003; St. John, Paulsen and Carter 2005; Perna 2000). Further study is needed, however, on the effect of parents’ perceptions of financial aid opportunities on the earlier stages of the college choice process, including student’s educational expectations, academic track and performance in high school, and steps toward preparing for and applying to college. To conduct these analyses I propose to use the first four waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study which track nearly 12,000 students from 1988 when they were in the eighth grade to 1994, two years after their scheduled high school graduation. Controlling for individual and school level variables, I will use logistic regression models to estimate the effect of parents’ perceptions of financial aid on students’ educational expectations, school track and performance, likelihood of taking the SAT and applying to college, and the selectivity of the chosen college. I will also conduct analyses to determine how students’ race and socioeconomic origins interact to affect the impact of parents’ financial aid perceptions on students’ educational outcomes. By examining the role of financial aid information early in the college choice process, this research will contribute to the development of a more thorough theoretical model of college choice and will provide policy implications for increasing college readiness and enrollment among low-income students and students of color.