While the primary issue in the future of college student financial aid, pertaining especially to the role of the College Scholarship Service, is fairness in awarding aid in the context of extreme college aid competition, other issues include college quality and choice, who should pay for education, parental responsibility, educational…

An analysis of the effectiveness of the U.S. system for enhancing student access to higher education looks at the success of government financing efforts in examining data on (1) encouraging enrollment and broadening educational choices of disadvantaged students; (2) making institutions work better; and (3) making the distribution of education's…

The financial aid allocation power structure emerging in recent years has created a new freedom of choice for aid petitioners, but differing purposes and goals of aid sources will only complicate the existing diversification and competition in higher education. The principal issue is still availability of aid for future students. (MSE)

Two educators discuss the advantages and disadvantages of no-need scholarships. A national program of scholarships for high school students about to enter college is advocated by one while the other sees the no-need scholarships as weakening the principle that academic achievement should be its own reward. (MLW)

Over the past decade, the understanding of student mobility patterns has increased considerably through research based in the analysis of longitudinal data sets. A significant challenge to crafting effective policies on student mobility emerges from most states focusing on full-time, 18-to-24-year-old students. While fewer than half of…

Social and economic changes in recent decades have meant significant changes in the mission, quality, and cost of public colleges; and an elite public higher education structure is emerging. A major overhaul of public higher education's economic policies and financial strategies is needed if it is to become affordable again. (MSE)

Comment is offered on John Silber's proposed Tuition Advance Fund, under which a student could borrow to meet college costs and repay over a working lifetime in installments geared to income. This and the tuition tax credit approach are discussed in terms of the federal role in financing higher education and student access and choice. (LB H)

With its fiscal year 1983 budget recommendations, the Reagan administration is seen as moving toward outright rejection of a federal responsibility for access to higher education. The commitment to expand postsecondary opportunities that has been affirmed by presidents and congresses for 25 years may soon be cancelled. (MLW)

New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) is described with emphasis on its effect or lack of effect on access, urban students, and middle-income parents. Its role within the three major higher education systems in the state--SUNY, CUNY, and the independents--is examined. (LBH)

Black progress is tied to the overriding national concern for economic development and the challenge of international competition. The experience of black colleges shows that unequally prepared students can be educated to high levels of performance. Some public policy initiatives are suggested. (MLW)

The obstacles to aid-and-access research on minority students include: inadequate models of the decision process, heterogeneous subpopulations, and the momentary equality of 1977. Until research yields qualitative knowledge of why similarly situated teenagers make different decisions about college, analysis of minority aid-and-entry decisions will…