Journal of Higher Education Management - Vol 35(2)

examines how adding a new football program impacted the diversity of student enrollment at small, private collegiate institutions.

Research Questions Small, private colleges and universities continue to add new athletic teams to grow student enrollment. In particular, institutions are adding new football programs to increase total enrollment, male enrollment, and enrollment of underrepresented student populations (Dalton & Somers, 2015).

Small, private colleges and universities are taking advantage of the fact that students often choose small colleges to continue their playing career (Bandre, 2011; Beaver, 2014). It is the opinion of the authors that college decision makers are starting football programs without considering how the addition of football will affect the diversity of student enrollment on campus. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore if the addition of a new college football program resulted in an increase in the socioeconomic and geographical diversity of student enrollment at small, private institutions. The following research questions and hypotheses guided the study: Research Question 1: To what extent does the addition of a football program result in increased enrollment of students receiving Pell Grants at small, private institutions compared to institutions that did not initiate a football program?

Research Question 2: To what extent does the addition of a football program result in increased enrollment of out-of-state students at small, private institutions compared to institutions that did not initiate a football program?

Literature Review Socioeconomic Diversity. Socioeconomic diversity is an aspect of diversity that is important for university and sports leaders to understand. Research indicates that interactions with people of all socioeconomic backgrounds are important for learning (Goodman & Bowman, 2014). Also, having a socioeconomically diverse institution is good for campus climate and the overall diversity of an institution (Park & Denson, 2013). The challenge for colleges and universities is how to get low-income students on campus. Policymakers are calling for colleges and universities to open up access to higher education for low-income families that lack representation in higher education (Hillman, 2012). A report by Rine and Eliason (2015) of the Council of Independent Colleges found that lack of representation of low-income families in higher education prevents them from moving to middle-class status. Low-income students also have significant obstacles in accessing education and are less likely to enroll in college (Hoxby & Avery, 2013; Rine & Eliason, 2015). Research indicates that low-income students tend to be first generation students and are more likely to be ethnic minorities (Messer, 2016).

In addition, low-income students are less likely to receive financial support from their parents and more likely to drop out of college (Gilbert, 2015; Hoxby & Avery, 2013).

The Pell Grant program is a large need-based financial aid program designed to provide lowincome students with access to higher education (Ehrenberg, Zhang, & Levin, 2006). Student Pell Grant participation is also a common measure of low-income student access to higher education (Chetty et al., 2017). Higher education institutions report the percentage of students attending their institution receiving Pell Grants each year along with other educational data. In an effort to improve low-income student access to higher education, the Obama administration mandated that the government double investments in the Pell Grant program (The Executive Office of the President, 2014).

A less understood aspect of diversity is the relationship between college athletics and the socioeconomic diversity of higher education institutions. Research indicates that low-income students 45