"Market Research on Law School Student Aid Award Letters and Shopping Sheet Information" set out to identify through consumer testing what information on the financial aid award letter and U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Shopping Sheet could be modified to create a document that better assists students applying to, or currently…

Sometimes what colleges and universities must do to generate revenue is consistent with their academic goals. But often they must choose one over the other. The financial transaction that produces most educational revenue in the United States is "cash-for-credits." Many states allocate their own funding by the credit hour as well,…

The nationwide Teacher Shortage Area (TSA) lists for the 2016-2017 school year have been completed. This report shows the nation's teacher shortage areas by State. This publication of approved teacher shortage areas is a reference document that is intended to serve three primary purposes: (1) Notify the nation that States and schools may…

In this brief, the authors review some of the main goals of state student financial aid programs and provide a few examples of how these programs are organized. They also describe how state programs vary in terms of who benefits. They then discuss various possible designs for joint federal-state policymaking in this area and study their impact.…

College attendance is a risky investment. But students may not recognize when they are at risk for failure, and financial aid introduces the possibility for moral hazard. Academic performance standards can serve three roles in this context: signaling expectations for success, providing incentives for increased student effort, and limiting…

Despite claims that colleges and universities are isolated from ideological preferences, sociopolitical discourse regularly shapes policies and practices of postsecondary education. This article considers how national discourse on federal aid for postsecondary education during the 1970s reflected a monumental shift in higher education policy.…

This report provides a qualitative account of the implementation of two college access support models in Baltimore City Schools. The initiative, launched in 2016-17, was developed by the College Bound Foundation and featured a 'roving' college access professional (CAP) that served students in three different high schools, as well as another CAP…

This study of the financial circumstances of students at Australian Universities is being undertaken by the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (MCSHE) at the University of Melbourne for Universities Australia, which has funded the study. Universities Australia is the peak body for Australia's universities. The purpose of the…

For single mothers families, who are especially likely to live in poverty, college attainment is a game changer for improving family well-being and meeting the demands of a changing economy. College credentials are associated with a host of positive outcomes, including increased earnings, higher rates of employment, improved health, increased…

Despite massive cuts in state funding over the past thirty years, the University of California has managed to keep enrollment on pace with growth in population. With California's population projected to grow 22.5 percent (from 40 to 49 million by 2040), that will no longer be the case, unless UC is able to find a new funding model. Informed by the…

College affordability is a pressing issue that is made more urgent by rising costs, increasing enrollment, and changing student demographics. People entering the labor market today are finding it increasingly difficult to secure a good job without first pursuing some postsecondary education or training. As a result, college enrollments have…

This white paper considers the affordability of four-year public institutions for an average Pell Grant recipient who receives the average amount of grant aid, takes out the average amount of federal loans, and collects reasonable work wages to contribute to an education. An astounding 75 percent of residential four-year institutions--including 90…

Employers are demanding higher skilled and better educated workers. Yet employer sentiment and the high default rate on student loans suggests a mismatch between the programs students are completing and the work they are able to find. To report on trends in postsecondary education, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) mostly relies on surveys of…

Graduation rates (GRs) remain one of the most frequently applied measures of institutional performance. This paper analyzes the relationship between university characteristics and GRs in Spain, using a dataset for the entire public university system over the period 1998-2008. Since we observe the same university over several years, we address the…

Students with a zero expected family contribution (EFC) are those with the greatest financial need and least ability to pay for college and now make up more than one in three American undergraduate students. Yet little is known about the year-to-year financial aid volatility of these students, or whether it varies by how the zero EFC was…