Georgia offers two merit-based scholarships to in-state college students: HOPE Scholarships, which provide partial tuition support, and Zell Miller Scholarships, which provide full tuition support but with stricter eligibility and retention conditions. Studies have examined retention of these scholarships but not other dynamics, including gaining…

After decades of frustration with increasingly complex college financial aid policies, a nationwide shift toward "free college" programs has gained momentum. New York State joined the free college movement in 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his goal to make public higher education tuition-free for most students during his…

Child care plays a vital role in our nation's economy. COVID-19 has largely shut down child care programs and schools across the nation, presenting challenges for working parents. Child care closures are a particularly acute problem for frontline and essential workers--health care personnel, grocery store staff, postal and delivery service…

College tuition at public institutions across the country rose by 36.2 percent on average over the decade 2008-09 to 2018-19. The average total cost of college, accounting for all expenses such as room and board, across all institutions public and private grew by 22.4 percent. Students and their families are borrowing an enormous amount of money…

The College Costs and Financial Aid Report provides an analysis of the total cost of college at all Indiana public institutions and analyzes the average debt load for college graduates and the impact state and federal financial aid has on reducing the cost for Hoosier students and families.

State-level postsecondary policymaking is daunting. Policymakers navigate through myriad fiscal, political, and ideological constraints and opportunities as they strive to address pressing state concerns or goals. While researchers and advocates may point to "perfect" policy models, in reality perfect policy does not exist. All…

Many students have concerns about the affordability of college, which may interfere with their potential success. However, foster care alumni have unique needs when making the transition into postsecondary enrollment. Compared to completion rates for the general population, postsecondary education outcomes for youth with foster care experience lag…

California voters ranked college affordability as the second most important education policy issue in the 2019 PACE/USC Rossier poll, a concern reflected in Governor Gavin Newsom's first budget proposal and in a number of bills currently progressing through the state legislature. Though desire for making college affordable is high among the…

The burden of financing higher education has shifted from the state to the student since the turn of the century, both in Colorado and across the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2000-01, the state covered 68 percent of a student's cost of higher education, while students and families were responsible for 32 percent. By FY 2011-12, those numbers had…

The Assessing Tuition- and Debt-Free Higher Education Task Force was convened in July 2016. Charged by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators's (NASFAA's) Board of Directors with evaluating the existing landscape of state and local promise programs with a focus on scaling such models to the national level, the task force…

In April 2017, the New York State Legislature approved Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal to establish the Excelsior Scholarship program, which the governor described as the nation's first offer of "tuition-free" two- and four-year college to the middle-class. Excelsior Scholarships promised to eliminate tuition charged by the State…

Tennessee is at the vanguard of the free-college movement. Launched in 2015, Tennessee Promise makes technical and community colleges tuition-free for recent high school graduates in the state. With the addition of Tennessee Reconnect in 2018, adult students can attend tuition-free as well. The efforts of the state's leadership, especially its…

As tuition levels rise, predictability is an increasingly important consideration of college financing. In this article, the authors explore contemporary policy tools intended to enhance tuition predictability. They specifically consider guaranteed tuition plans. The authors begin their discussion by considering the prevalence of guaranteed…

Launched in 2017, New York's Excelsior Scholarship makes the state's public colleges tuition-free for low- and middle-income state residents who meet several conditions. The program, championed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, is billed as a middle-class program that aims to make City University of New York (CUNY) and State University of New…

At the request of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) conducted a review of Oklahoma's Promise program between August 2017 and February 2018. This report summarizes findings and observations from the review and provides recommendations. The review is organized around five areas of interest…