The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works to promote efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Through OIG's audits, inspections, investigations, and other reviews, they continue to identify areas of concern within the Department's programs and operations and…

This report shares the perspectives and aspirations of 17 low-income and working-class students based on interviews the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) conducted over two semesters of their college journeys. The report identifies opportunities for policymakers and institutional leaders to support all students through completion,…

Higher education is the state's road to jobs and prosperity. No entity in state government can help Oklahoma reach its goals of educational excellence and workforce development faster or more comprehensively than public higher education. More college graduates means an increase in our state's per capita income and a stronger state economy. This…

The U.S. Department of Education tested a set of promising, low-cost advising strategies, called "Find the Fit," designed to help low-income and "first generation" students enrolled in the Department's Upward Bound program choose more selective colleges and stay in until they complete a degree. About 200 Upward Bound projects…

The report outlines ways colleges and universities can improve access and attainment for underserved students, particularly Pell Grant recipients, who come from low-income backgrounds. "Serving Their Share" lists 10 prominent public institutions who are failing to enroll as many low-income, high-achieving students as they could, based on…

As the student aid programs rapidly approach reauthorization in 2014, they continue to face severe funding and efficiency problems. With grant assistance from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through their "Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery" (RADD) project, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) examined…

As the student aid programs rapidly approach reauthorization in 2014, they continue to face severe funding and efficiency problems. With grant assistance from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through their "Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery" (RADD) project, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators…

A quality education is the primary instrument of social and economic mobility in the United States. As open-access institutions, community colleges are the gateway to postsecondary education for millions of Americans. Many of these students would be unable to afford college without federal resources, such as student financial aid and tax credits.…

Data on student aid for 2015-16 confirm that the dramatic increases in aid awarded in 2009-10 and 2010-11 were products of extreme economic circumstances, not harbingers of long-run changes in financing for postsecondary education. Both total federal education loans and federal loans per full-time equivalent (FTE) student declined for the fifth…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2017 that impact its…

As the Biden-Harris administration seeks to hasten the country's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, reforming the U.S. higher education system to ensure equitable access and attainment for all adults is more important than ever. Most student parents are mothers, students of color, adult and working learners, students with low incomes, and…

The persistently low college enrollment and completion rates of youth from poor families are partly attributable to their uncertainty about whether college is affordable. In the current system, concrete information about college costs arrives at the end of high school and is only available to those who complete a complex application. Evidence…

From 2001-2002 to 2011-2012, the total amount of federal financial aid awarded to students under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) jumped from $72.3 billion to an estimated $173.8 billion, a 10-year increase of 140 percent. For 2011-2012, the Title IV programs accounted for 71 percent of the $245 billion in total financial aid received by…

The Federal Pell Grant End-of-Year Report presents primary aspects of Federal Pell Grant Program activity for the 2012-2013 award year. This presentation is a compilation of quantitative program data assembled to offer insights into the changes to the Title IV applicant universe and the Federal Pell Grant Program. The Federal Pell Grant…

About 16 percent of veterans use the GI Bill to attend private institutions, roughly the same proportion as students generally. But at the most highly selective colleges, veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill barely fill a single classroom--38 at Penn, 22 at Cornell, and at Princeton, just one. The sparse numbers do not go unnoticed, veterans say.…