The pandemic created daunting challenges for higher education. The federal government provided California Community Colleges billions of dollars in aid for students and institutions. How did they use these funds? How well did their pandemic recovery activities and investments help reengage students? What will institutions do when the money runs…

RAND researchers studied more than 450,000 recipients of New Jersey's Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) -- the nation's most generous state-funded grant program per state resident college student -- to explore whether getting larger amounts of grant aid led to higher graduation rates for students at varying income levels and attending two-year, four-year,…

Each year, more than 700,000 incarcerated individuals leave federal and state prisons and return to local communities where they will have to compete with individuals in those communities for jobs. In today's economy, having a college education is necessary to compete for many jobs, and the stakes for ex-offenders are higher than they are for…

While the Pell Grant covers a substantial proportion of college tuition for low-income students, it has covered only two full-time semesters per year and has not included any support for summer courses through most of its history. As research has shown that continuous enrollment throughout the year increases college persistence and completion, the…

Early College High Schools (ECHSs) and dual-enrollment programs allow students to take college courses while still in high school. Research has shown that students participating in these programs are more likely to enroll in college, post higher college grade point averages, persist, and ultimately graduate from college. Too often, however, the…

Federal free-college policies are now at the center of the Democratic higher education agenda. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped move the idea into the mainstream during the 2016 presidential campaign, and other lawmakers have since worked to advance the policy in Congress. Joe Biden effectively put free college on the ballot in 2020 when he fully…

The Federal Pell Grant program has made education possible for many Americans. It has also helped establish the norm of public responsibility for widespread access to higher education. This essay reviews the growth of the Pell Grant program over time and its current characteristics. It then details some innovations with the potential to increase…

Several wealthy colleges and universities have recently begun removing all loans from low-income students' financial aid packages. This article reports on a study that found that the introduction of "no-loan" policies has positively impacted low-income enrollments, suggesting that this aid strategy may be an effective, though limited,…

This report provides a comprehensive picture of the history and current state of the Pell Grant program. Using data from various federal sources, notably the Pell Grant program annual reports and the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, the report tracks key indicators of the growth and distribution of Pell Grants over the program's history…

Explores the need for the higher education community to rethink the structure of higher education finance from its basic foundations. Suggests that future research focus on how the method of delivery of public subsidies--across-the-board subsidies, in-school interest subsidies on student loans, or Pell Grants--influences their effectiveness for…

A study was done of the Lilly Endowment Educational Awards (LEEAs), one type of gift-aid for fulltime undergraduate Indiana residents. In particular the study addressed: (1) who receives LEEAs; (2) how Pell, State of Indiana, and LEEA formulas interact; (3) what happens when LEEAs are combined with all of the other types of gift-aid for a total…

This guide is intended as a self-evaluation questionnaire for those institutions conducting internal reviews of financial aid programs and of their compliance with federal regulations. It addresses recommended good administrative practices with a view to minimizing incidents of misrepresentation and providing a clear audit trail. Title IV programs…

This book contains individual essays and series of essays about fundamental issues in prison education. The following individual essays are included: "The Paradox of Higher Education in Prisons" (Jones, d'Errico); "A Brief History of Prison Higher Education in the United States" (Silva); "The Scope and Diversity of Prison…

The need for efficient and effective systems to deliver financial assistance to students and to administer the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program is assessed, and recommendations for improving delivery systems are provided. Attention is directed to the delivery of Pell Grant and campus-based assistance, the provision of information to current…

A framework for monitoring quality control (QC) of processor contracts administered by the Department of Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) is presented and applied to the Pell Grant program. Guidelines for establishing QC measures and standards are included, and the uses of a sampling procedure in the QC system are…