Philanthropic dollars finance a meaningful part of student aid at colleges and universities. However, there is little understanding how philanthropic giving impacts student financial aid and student outcomes.
Summary
Research on philanthropy in higher education is often limited in scope or ignores the broader socioeconomic impact. This study uses an innovative approach to assess philanthropy’s role in the contemporary financial aid landscape by answering three questions:
- How has philanthropic giving for student aid changed over the past 20 years in relation to overall giving?
- Does philanthropic giving for student financial aid relate to institutional aid dispensed to students?
- Do philanthropic giving and institutional aid relate to historically underserved students’ enrollment and social mobility?
Key Insights
- Donations for financial aid grew in the studied period, as did institutional financial aid payouts—especially for need-based aid.
- Philanthropic donations had a moderate association with institutional need-aid payouts for students.
- Institutional aid (including the philanthropic gifts that contribute to it) hasn’t increased the proportional representation of low-income or adult learners, nor is such aid associated with their social mobility.
- Institutional aid appears primarily to be helping institutions continue to enroll students from middle- and upper-middle incomes who also face higher-education financing challenges.
