Literature Review #4

I found a really good source written by Laura Hamilton. Laura Hamilton is a sociology professor at the University of California and has her Ph.D from Indiana University, her M.A. from Indiana University and her B.A. from DePauw University. Her paper is based off a study she conducted in which she lived in a college dorm to observe student's behaviors. Her paper is based on a study that she did about the results of parents paying for college. Her paper is called  "More is More or More is Less? Parental Financial Investments during College." This paper talks about parents paying for their child's education and the problems with that. Hamilton uses data from "five nationally representative postsecondary datasets to determine what effect financial parental investments have on student GPA and degree completion." She found that student's who's parents pay for their education are more likely to graduate but have a lower GPA. "While parental aid decreases student GPA, it increases the odds of graduating — net of explanatory variables and accounting for alternative funding." "Students with parental funding often perform well enough to stay in school, but dial down their academic efforts." Hamilton thinks this has to do with a social factor, that students who pay for college on their own work harder and socialize less often than students who parents pay for their education. She suggests that students who pay for college on their own take it more seriously and work harder for a good GPA. 

Another article I found is written by Maureen Downey called "College students post lower grades when parents pay more toward their educations." This article pretty much just gives excerpts from Laura Hamilton's paper. Maureen Downey is a reporter for AJC and she has written articles about local, state and  federal education for twelve years. She also taught college classes about communications and journalism. Talking about Laura Hamilton:
“There were some affluent families who thought their children were spoiled and didn't pay the whole cost, and there were some families who had scrimped and saved and borrowed from family members and taken out loans,” she said. “And the affluent families aren't hurt the most by the lower grades, because they had the connections to call the head of NBC or the N.F.L. and get their child a job. It’s more of a problem for the middle-class parents, who worked hard to pay the college costs, used up their retirement funds and are out of money by graduation time.” 

I think this is the perfect article for my paper. I think this is the best one I have found so far and I think it will really help with me my paper. I think it will help my argument that students should pay for their own education and Laura Hamilton gives many points as to why they should.

Terms:
postsecondary- any education beyond high school
dissertation- A long essay on a particular subject, one written as a requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree






This is Laura Hamilton.

This is Maureen Downey.











Works Cited:

Hamilton, Laura. "Laura Hamilton, Assistant Professor." Laura Hamilton. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.

Downey, Maureen. "College Students Post Lower Grades When Parents Pay More toward Their Educations." Get Schooled RSS. N.p., 15 Jan. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.