| The purpose of this study was to investigate the student financial aid packaging practices of the California community colleges. The study explored the actual packaging practices of the community colleges, the principles such as student equity, access and retention taken into account by financial aid administrators when packaging and the extent administrators thought their packaging was meeting their goals in those areas.;This study utilized the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) packaging models as the basis for determining packaging practices among the colleges. The primary method of data collection was a survey. It was them determined based upon survey results to interview a sample of administrators to gain further insight into their packaging practices.;The findings revealed that the community colleges are using a multiplicity of packaging practices to meet their priority goals of student equity and access. It appears in this study that administrators are using a temporal component of first come-first serve combined with a rationing model as a common packaging practice. An analysis of the data using Chi-square indicated no relationship between any individual packaging practices and the principles of student equity, access or retention. Although administrators did think their packaging practices were effective in helping them to meet their goals, it appeared through this study that no formal evaluation of packaging models effectiveness occurs at the institutional level. Finally, information gathered through interviews indicated that financial aid packaging within the institutions is a passive process, which may contribute to the lack of evaluation at the institutional level.;This study recommends that community colleges develop institutional models to evaluate the effectiveness of its student financial aid packaging practices as it relates to improving or meeting goals of student equity, student access, persistence and retention. |
