An analysis of the federal Stafford Student Loan Program summarizes its successes, limitations, and numerous problems and explains why reform has not yet occurred. A policy stalemate in Congress, lack of a well-developed reform alternative, and newly professionalized and mobilized interest groups are seen as making change unlikely. (Author/MSE)

This introductory article describes current research on student loans in developing countries and concludes that student loans in these countries are feasible, can promote wider cost sharing, and can help to generate additional resources for higher education but only if loan programs are well designed and efficiently managed. (Author/DB)

Essentially an application of installment purchase concepts to higher education, the Zero Cash Plan allows students without cash from family resources for room, board, and tuition to attend Cazenovia College (New York) by deferring parent contributions until after graduation. The program has evolved to meet changing student and institution needs.…

A discussion of the Canada Student Loans program argues that it lacks vertical and horizontal equity and creates a work disincentive, program rules need updating to reflect inflation and tax rate changes, and the government is controlling the cost of program interest subsidy inefficiently. An alternative program design is proposed. (Author/MSE)

This description of federal compensatory education programs for the economically disadvantaged was prepared for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's review of national education policies. As background, the report first describes the U.S. educational system, the social and educational changes since 1954 that gave rise to…

This document contains the text of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which amends the Public Health Service Act to address the increasing shortage of registered nurses by instituting a series of policies to improve nurse recruitment and nurse retention. Title I details two initiatives to boost recruitment of nurses. The first initiative includes the…