Funding Belonging: The Relationship between Higher Education Funding and Sense of Belonging

Sense of belonging is an important psychological and social factor for college students. Students who report a strong sense of belonging to an institution are more likely to return the next year (Hausmann et al., 2007), stay in school (Fine, 1991), graduate (Morrow & Ackermann, 2012), learn (Kernahan et al., 2014), thrive (Strayhorn, 2019), and have reduced drug use (Goff & Goddard, 1999). Various campus offices impact a student's sense of belonging including housing, academic advisors, campus activities, and counseling services (Berger, 1997; Kuh et al., 1991; Stebleton, 2011; Stebleton et al., 2014). There is no clear answer on which campus services have the largest impact on belonging. IPEDS expenditure data was combined with NSSE belonging data to attempt to answer the question: which college functional areas have the strongest relationship with sense of belonging. A three-block hierarchical regression model found the Adjusted R2 moved by less than 0.01 for expenditure variables. Most expense areas had a negative but not significant relationship with belonging. Spending on Scholarships had the strongest positive relationship on belonging. Total institution expenditures were weakly correlated with Student Services while Instruction and Research spending was highly correlated. Finally, NSSE's Engagement Indicators for Supportive Environment and Quality of Interactions were correlated with belonging while Student-Faculty Interaction was weakly correlated. Ultimately, this study has provided a solid foundation for future research around why hypothesized results were not found. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]