Date
10-2019
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Kevin D. Struble
Keywords
Academic Entitlement, Students, Education Finance, Education
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
Ifill-Fraser, Nicola, "An Examination of the Relationship between Academic Entitlement and Education Financing among Undergraduate Students" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2222.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2222
Abstract
Academic entitlement among students is a growing problem and concern for universities. Students with a sense of entitlement towards their education believe that positive academic outcomes are owed to them and should be awarded, not based on mastery of educational content, but on non-academic aspects of education, such as attending class, participating in class, or paying tuition fees. Additionally, academically entitled students have unrealistic expectations about the role of instructors and demanding attitudes and behaviors toward faculty. The factors precipitating these actions and behaviors appear to be multi-facted and remain unclear. To add to the growing body of literature on academic entitlement through identification of a contributing factor, this causal comparative study aims to explore the relationship between means of education financing and academic entitlement. This study used Achacoso’s Academic Entitlement Scale to measure levels of entitlement actions and entitlement beliefs among 524 undergraduate students at mid-size state university in the western United States. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine the effect of means of education financing on academic entitlement. Analysis of the results showed statistical significance between means of education financing and academic entitlement. Specifically, it was found that financially independent students are more likely to have a significantly higher entitlement belief than financially dependent and dual-financed undergraduate university students. No statistically significant difference was found between means of education financing and the entitlement actions subscale. Recommendation for future research includes repeating the study with a different sampling technique and distinguishing between financially independent students who utilized external funding sources and financially independent students who do not.
