Institutional Student Diversity in Higher Education: Are Alumni Part of the Equation?

Abstract

Abstract:Through a blended sociological and economic conceptual framework, this study employed fixed effects regression models for a sample of 87 public and 198 private four-year institutions to understand the relationship of institutional student diversity and the diversity of an institution's alumni, the percent of alumni who made a financial contribution, and the amount of gifts from alumni. While relationships were found to exist for all but one model, this exploratory study highlights the data and conceptual limitations of connecting macro-level factors of diversity with an important aspect of institutional funding, alumni giving.