The Influence of Prices on Within-Year Persistence by Traditional College-Age Students In Four-Year Colleges

This paper uses the 1987 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study to examine the influence of prices on within-year persistence by traditional college-age students enrolled in four-year colleges. The findings include: 1) within-year persistence was influenced by the amount of tuition charged; 2) tuition charges were negatively associated with within-year persistence in both public and private colleges; and 3) grant aid was positively associated with persistence in private colleges and negatively associated with persistence in public colleges. The authors conclude that the negative association between grants and persistence by students in public colleges is an artifact, attributable to an insufficient amount of grants available to students in public colleges

Association of swim distance and age with body composition in adult female swimmers

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between average weekly swimming distance and age with body composition in adult female endurance swimmers. Methods: Thirty-five women, aged 21-73 yr. volunteered to participate. Weekly swimming distance was determined from a self-reported exercise log. Body composition was estimated by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), waist circumference, abdominal sagittal diameter, and skinfold thickness measures. Associations between swimming distance and age with body composition were examined using regression analysis. Results: Swimming distance had shared variances as follows: 23% with percent body fat, 26% with waist circumference, 20% with abdominal sagittal diameter, and 20%, 24%, and 22% with subscapular, suprailiac, and triceps skinfolds, respectively. Abdominal sagittal diameter was the only adiposity measure demonstrating a stronger relationship with age (R2 = 0.29, P = 0.00) than with swimming distance (R2 = 0.20, P = 0.03). Bone mineral content was linearly related to swimming distance and age having a negative association with age (r2 = 0.18, P = 0.01) and a positive one with swimming distance (r2 = 0.12, P = 0.05). In addition, there was a negative linear association observed between swimmer age and bone mineral density (r2 = 0.12, P = 0.05). Conclusion: In these female adults, endurance swimming was mildly associated with body adiposity. Age was not associated with body fat mass independently from swimming activity except with that measure reflecting abdominal visceral fat deposits. These data suggest that greater fat mass in female swimmers is more strongly related to lower levels of exercise than to age but that there is an additional influence of age on fat accumulation in the intra-abdominal area of the body