State financial aid is a critical piece of college affordability for students from low-income backgrounds. Nearly three quarters of all students attend college in their home state - which is typically a requirement for state-based financial aid - and first-generation and students from low-income backgrounds are even more likely than their peers to…

Background: Federal lawmakers passed the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant program in 2008 to incentivize enrollment in bachelor's and master's degrees in education and to reduce teacher labor supply issues in high-need fields at low-income schools. The program offers undergraduate and graduate students up…

Experts from the RAND Corporation prepared this independent report on New Jersey's Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) program for low-income college students. TAG is the nation's most generous state-funded financial aid program on a per-resident-undergraduate basis. Currently, TAG distributes around $475 million in grants per year, and an award covers about…

In response to rising college tuition and student debt over the past three decades, some institutions, localities, and states have implemented a range of tuition-free promise programs to promote college access and success. Programs vary widely in their design features, including eligibility stipulations and award structure. I explore the growing…

In this study I deployed quasi-experimental methods to explore enrollment responses to a unique statewide college promise program for adult students attending college within the two-year public postsecondary education sector in Tennessee. State policymakers implemented Tennessee Reconnect in 2018 to encourage adult students without a college…

In the latest addition to the National College Attainment Network's (NCAN) state policy resource library, we present a new report about how to simplify state financial aid programs. While maximum award amounts tend to grab headlines, the fine print can make all the difference in whether students can access and retain state aid. Those most impacted…

For many high school students, the cost of attending college poses a major barrier to continuing their education. Federal student aid provided through Pell grants, work study, and loans can offer students with low incomes an avenue toward receiving a postsecondary education. But for students to be eligible for federal student aid, they need to…

As college promise programs proliferate across the United States with noted intentions to promote access through increased affordability, it is necessary to understand the relationship between these programs and other forms of financial aid, including loans. Using federal, state, and program-level data, we leverage a natural experiment to estimate…

Communities with more college degrees have higher incomes, less reliance on social services, and greater economic growth. To ensure that Michigan's workforce has the skills needed for the modern economy, the state's leaders must build a financial aid system that helps families cover college costs. However, disjointed program designs, maintenance…

Earning a college degree has long been critical to unlocking many high-paying jobs -- and, as a result, to economic mobility and security. Increasingly, however, the traditional "norm" of a college student--one who enrolls straight out of high school, receives some support from their parents, lives on campus, and does not have…

Considering the extensive social and private benefits that higher education generates, ensuring inclusive access and success is essential to achieve social justice and economic efficiency. With this premise in mind, this article reviews current knowledge about equity promotion policies in higher education and what is known about the effectiveness…

Federal student loans help many college students access and complete postsecondary degrees that would not have been attainable otherwise. But years of well-intentioned policymaking have left the student loan system a complicated mess that is difficult for borrowers to navigate and leads to unfair and inefficient distributions of taxpayer dollars.…

Using a panel dataset from 2000 to 2014, this paper employs a difference-in-difference design to consider the impact of the introduction of a "promise program" on postsecondary institutions' internal spending levels and patterns. We find that promise programs influence postsecondary institutional behavior in every area we tested:…

Increasingly, people are looking for education and training options that are more affordable, flexible, can quickly open doors to good jobs, and--ideally--pave the way for further educational attainment. Businesses also want to hire workers with the skills needed for jobs in growing industries. Non-degree credentials (NDCs) can often meet these…

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…