The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators' (NASFAA) National Student Aid Profile is an annual publication designed to give a high-level overview of the federal student financial aid programs that provide funding to millions of students each year. This report presents an overview of: (1) The Federal Pell Grant Program; (2)…

In 2016, the federal government provided students pursuing higher education with about $91 billion in direct financial support through a wide variety of spending programs and income and payroll tax preferences, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. The largest programs and preferences give financial assistance to students to offset the cost…

This paper examines the rise in student loan default and delinquency. It draws on a unique set of administrative data on federal student borrowing matched to earnings records from de-identified tax records. Most of the increase in default is associated with borrowers at for-profit schools, 2-year institutions, and certain other nonselective…

Trends in Student Aid, an annual College Board publication since 1983, is a compendium of detailed, up-to-date information on the funding that is available to help students pay for college. This report documents grant aid from federal and state governments, colleges and universities, employers, and other private sources, as well as loans, tax…

As college costs have soared and the U.S. economy struggles to move out of the recession, more and more Americans have relied on federal student financial assistance programs to help them meet their postsecondary expenses. Data from the Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), show that the number of students…

This report addresses concerns that the Department of Education may have erroneously made overpayments of as much as $400 million to schools participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) during the Department's conversion to a new computerized payment system. The investigation found that because the transition to the new…

During the 6-month period ending March 31, 1998, the Office of Inspector General assisted the Department of Education in ensuring that taxpayer-funded federal education programs and operations are implemented efficiency, effectiveness, integrity and accountability. In the executive summary, under "Goal 1: Programs and Operations…

This report describes progress in addressing problems identified earlier in the process of consolidating student loans under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) or the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Consolidation loans allow borrowers to extend their repayment periods and may combine loans under either or both…

This study examined borrower satisfaction with the Federal Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs. A telephone survey of approximately 3,600 student and parent borrowers who had originated loans under the two programs in 1994-95 found that: (1) Direct Loan borrowers with previous FFEL loans were more likely than FFEL…

The University of Oregon's financial aid director describes the success of the Federal Direct Student Loan program in its first year at the institution. No significant program disadvantages were experienced, and its advantages included flexibility of administration, ease of data management with the servicer, decrease in office workload, and…

This study examined satisfaction of approximately 2,200 institutions of higher education that participated in the Federal Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs during the 1995-96 academic year. Among major findings were: (1) both Direct Loan and FFEL institutions were satisfied with their programs, although Direct Loan…

As part of a 5-year evaluation of the Direct Loan and the Federal Family Education Loan programs, 19 institutions of higher education participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program were visited to examine the diversity of approaches used by schools in planning for and implementing the Direct Loan program. The schools included…

This study examined satisfaction of approximately 2,200 institutions of higher education that participated in the Federal Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs during the 1996-97 academic year. Among major findings were: (1) both Direct Loan and FFEL institutions were satisfied with their loan programs, although FFEL…

As part of a 5-year evaluation of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, 12 participating institutions of higher education were visited to examine the diversity of approaches used by schools in planning for and implementing the program. The schools included public and private two- and four-year institutions and proprietary schools. Major…

As part of a 5-year evaluation of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, this study assessed the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) administration of the program. Data were obtained through interviews with ED and other federal officials, institutional surveys, reviews of documents, attendance at meetings and training events, facilitated…