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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Leadership in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1445151
Understanding the Complexities of Financial Support for Students in Grant-Funded STEMM Training Programs
Provisionally accepted- University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
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There are lessons to be learned from campuses providing financial support to students involved in grant-funded science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) training initiatives. We examine students' perspectives on financial support from the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) program, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory to guide qualitative data analysis, we found that students perceived BUILD funding to reduce financial stress and increase access to career training; however, the impact of aid was hampered by limitations in funding and financial aid processes. This study has implications for federal funding agencies, foundations, and higher education institutions, specifically in developing innovative disbursement processes to improve support and to reduce unintended harmful consequences for student recipients.
Keywords: STEMM education, Financial Support, Financial aid, Social cognitive career theory, research training, STEMM intervention program, scholar program
Received: 27 Jun 2024; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Romero, Cobian and Martin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ana L. Romero, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.