The Relationship between Institutional Expenditures and Degree Attainment at Baccalaureate Colleges

Enhancing student persistence and effectively managing financial resources present important challenges to higher education. Surprisingly, existing student persistence and attrition models offer little insight into the potential links between institutional expenditures and student persistence. This study examines the impact of institutional expenditures on 6-year cohort graduation rates at 363 Carnegie-classified Baccalaureate I and II institutions. The results suggest a positive and significant relationship between instructional and academic support expenditures and cohort graduation rates. As a result, researchers might consider ways to integrate expenditure variables into student persistence models. Institutions also might seek out ways to shift financial resources to areas that enhance student persistence and degree attainment. Additional research may serve to strengthen student persistence frameworks and improve links between persistence research and financial decisionmaking in colleges and universities.