Six years after their first enrollment, differences between aided and unaided students were only observed in public institutions. Students who had been awarded institutional grant aid in their first year were more likely than their unaided counterparts to have either attained a degree from or still be enrolled at the awarding institution.⁹ In less selective public institutions, this trend was found across all merit groups, while in very selective public institutions, a difference in retention between aided and unaided students was detected only for high-merit students (88 percent of aided students maintained their enrollment vs. 78 percent of unaided students).

In private not-for-profit institutions, whether they were less selective or very selective institutions, no differences could be detected between the 6-year retention rates of students who received institutional grant aid in their first year and those who did not.

These results held in a subsequent multivariate analysis after taking into account students’ academic merit and financial need, the selectivity of institutions, and a number of other variables related to retention.¹⁰ Full-time undergraduates who received institutional grant aid in public institutions were more likely than their unaided counterparts to earn a degree from or still be enrolled at the awarding institution 6 years after they had first enrolled. However, the same pattern was not observed for those enrolled in private not-for-profit institutions. While it appears as though receiving high amounts of institutional grant aid in private not-for-profit institutions (covering 75 percent or more of tuition) was associated with higher retention, there was not enough statistical evidence to confirm a difference once the multivariate analysis was applied.