Substantial shares of eligible students forgo or lose access to tuition-free college benefits, in part due to limited access to information on eligibility and other requirements. Given students' dependence on the Internet for information on how to pay for college, we examine the availability and digital accessibility of critical program…

This paper uses Individual Deprivation Measure data from Indonesia and South Africa to demonstrate the effects of coverage bias associated with mobile phone-based sampling and data collection approaches that restrict sampling frames to those who own or have access to a mobile phone -- a increasingly common method. Analysis of this data…

Robust indicators are important for identifying disadvantaged pupils in education, and for ensuring that they are rightly receiving relevant state-funded assistance. This paper compares the quality and completeness of data from England on student eligibility for free school meals (FSM) based on an administrative census, with more all-encompassing…

Among the 50 states, 44 use free and reduced-price lunch enrollment to identify low-income students. These data are also commonly used to allocate federal, state, and local funding to schools serving low-income children. School and district poverty rates, as determined by free and reduced-price lunch enrollment, additionally feature prominently in…

There is wide variability in the special education eligibility criteria for deafblindness across the United States. This study was a novel examination of variations in state factors, including eligibility criteria for deafblindness, to identify potential relationships between state factors and the number of students who are deafblind during the…

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine how many young children and students (birth to 22 years old) were identified with visual impairments and receiving special education services in the United States. Professionals estimate at least 50% of students with visual impairments have additional disabilities and are not identified as…

Although "free tuition" programs are politically popular, some worry that these programs will exacerbate inequity. Scholars note that program outcomes depend on implementation, but few have probed the contextual conditions that contribute to differences in implementation or the consequences of implementation for equity. To address this…

This research considers Pell grant restoration for incarcerated people for the field of higher education in prison. Using the original data, we outline the limits of Pell funding in the prison context by surfacing persistent funding challenges that the Pell grant alone cannot address and may exacerbate. By providing the necessary investments to…

Discussion of the effectiveness of distance learning as a means of delivering higher education programs at classical universities has been ongoing for the past decade. The article presents the findings of a study of changes in academic performance of university students, covering the period from fall 2018 to fall 2023. This period included a rapid…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a policy change to the federally administered National School Lunch Program that allows schools serving low-income populations to classify all students as eligible for free meals, regardless of individual circumstances. This has implications for the use of free and reduced-price meal (FRM) data to proxy…

This article compares state expenditure data to see how the operating budgets of public community colleges specifically, and public higher education institutions generally, have fared over the past 30 years. Data from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) have long tracked major state expenditure categories, including the…

Timely identification of children with disabilities is required by federal special education law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, 2004). During COVID-19, school psychologists have been faced with the challenge of completing valid, comprehensive, and diagnostic assessments when traditional methods are not…

This study aims to analyse the impact of demographic and educational factors on in digital upskilling. We address the relationship between digital skills, critical thinking skills and the student learning experience in courses with embedded upskilling programs. Statistical analysis and exploratory research are used to analyse the data collected by…

Background: Promise scholarship programs designed to increase college access and success are proliferating across the country. However, little research has investigated how such programs are implemented or how differences in program design, such as the inclusion of merit requirements, could affect the success of these initiatives. Project/Research…

Given growing disparities in college enrollment by household income, policymakers and researchers often are interested in understanding whether policies expand access for low-income students. In this brief, we highlight the limitations of a commonly available measure of low-income status--whether students receive a federal Pell grant--and compare…