There is a distinct possibility, it is suggested, that American higher education will experience a price war in the coming period. The recent growth in awards of financial aid based on "merit" may be viewed as either its precursor, or its prologue, or its early major phase. (MLW)

Discusses data that indicate that students' academic promise is increasingly influencing even the amount of "need-based" aid they receive, signaling that families' demonstrated financial need is of less importance than they may expect when they fill out all those financial aid forms. (EV)

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…

The Education Amendments of 1980 of the Higher Education Act became law in October. The new higher education law is seen as ambitious in addressing complex issues with the management, delivery and targeting of federal assistance. The student loan explosion is discussed. (MLW)

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…

Discussion of the increasing price competition in higher education provides tables, graphs, and analyses of the higher education market and examines implications of offering attractive financial aid packages to better students. Finds price competition results in a greater concentration of talented students at high-resource schools and declining…

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)

The debate over low tuition is examined from various viewpoints. Student aid strategies alone, in the absence of strong institutional aid and support for low tuition, may actually be confusing the issue by encouraging political leaders, the media, and the general public to believe that opportunity is expanding at the very time it is in decline.…

When the Carter Administration's budget figures first appeared in December, higher education suffered a billion-dollar cut in student aid funds. Although basic and supplemental grant allowances were later increased, other higher education programs--including college libraries, campus facilities, and nurses' training--were cut heavily. (JMD)

What to do about the billion-dollar GI Bill overpayment problem is a question confronting many community college administrators and the Veterans' Administration. Legal and administrative technicalities are reviewed, and it is suggested that many Vietnam era veterans may have no qualms about accepting checks from a government they feel has betrayed…

The Action Committee for Higher Education--a coalition of 19 Washington-based higher education groups that serves as a national information clearinghouse on student aid, keeping students, parents, the news media, campus officials, and others informed about the Reagan Administration's student aid proposals--is described. (MLW)

Explores how, while there are fears that the new emphasis on merit-based aid comes at the expense of aid to the most needy students, evidence suggests that it has not yet jeopardized need-based aid although it is clearly rapidly increasing. (EV)

Proposed legislation that would establish a federal tax credit for individuals who set up Educational Savings Plans to provide for the postsecondary education of their children is described briefly. (JT)

Problems with the Reagan administration's proposal for an income contingent loan (ICL) program are discussed. From an institution's perspective, ICLs are likely to be a major administrative headache because colleges would be required to administer it. (MLW)

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)