The "Condition of Education" is an annual report mandated by the U.S. Congress that summarizes the latest data on education in the United States. This report uses data from across the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and from other sources and is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress.…

Financial aid officers play a vital role in assisting prospective and current college students in enrolling and graduating from college. This study explores the competencies that financial aid officers need to be successful in their jobs. A survey of thirty competencies was distributed to 508 practicing financial aid officers in the Western United…

Recent increases in tuition levels, accelerated by declining state funding to institutions, have combined with stagnant or falling household incomes to make it more difficult for many college students to finance postsecondary education. In this environment, state grant programs are more important than ever. These funds have the potential to make…

Colleges and universities discount tuition by providing institutional aid to reduce the actual amount paid by a student. Discount rates are substantial and continue to increase, particularly at private institutions. Funded institutional discounts are linked to gifts or endowment income restricted to financial aid. Unfunded institutional discounts…

This report provides survey results of a study of institutions' student account and loan receivables, payment channels, credit balance refunds, third-party payments, staffing and student financial services expenditures during the fiscal years from 2008-2011. [For "2011 Student Financial Services Benchmarking Report," see ED608487.]

We investigate how undergraduates' financial aid packages affect their subsequent donative behavior as alumni. We analyze micro data on alumni giving at an anonymous research university, and focus on three types of financial aid, scholarships, loans, and campus jobs. Consistent with the view of some professional fundraisers, we allow the receipt…

The authors examine two factors that may affect student achievement in economics principles courses: working for pay and the primary source of funds (employer tuition reimbursement, loans, scholarships, financial aid, self-financing, parental transfers, other) used to pay for college for a sample of students in economics principles classes at a…

Over the past decade, institutionally-funded financial aid (or "tuition discounts") have been the fastest-growing item within most public four-year college and university operating budgets. One explanation for this trend is due to the changing structure of public colleges' revenue streams, as tuition and fees have replaced state appropriations as…

With the passage of the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA) of 2008, students with intellectual disabilities who are enrolled in a federally approved Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary Program on a college campus will be eligible for some forms of federal student financial aid. This Brief Report discusses the forms of aid available,…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)--which students must complete to qualify for most federal, state, and institutional financial aid--is a gateway to college through which many students must pass, particularly those from low- to moderate-income households (King, 2004; Kofoed, 2013). Yet given the complexity of the…

This article discusses the previous literature on student retention in the post-compulsory education sector and the "24+Advanced Learning Loan". Adult students participating in an Access to Higher Education course are at particularly high risk of non-completion. Literature indicates that whilst stakeholders may require factual statistics…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand how community college students assess the risks and rewards of using personal loans to achieve their higher education goals. Method: Interviews were conducted with 12 federal loan borrowers attending a large, urban community college in Texas during the Spring 2013 semester. Results: Findings…

During the apartheid years in South Africa, career guidance amongst disadvantaged learners was largely absent and, for many, career choices were limited and governed by politics. Despite South Africa having celebrated 20 years of democracy, this situation has improved only slightly. Therefore, the aims of the study were to determine the factors…

Access to college has increased substantially over the last 50 years, but student success--defined as the combination of academic success and degree or certificate completion--has not kept pace. Student success, moreover, generally correlates with students' financial resources: Students from high-income families attend and complete college at…

In the first chapter, I analyze the growth patterns of postsecondary education costs in re-cent years. It shows the trends of college revenue, expenditure and other financial items using data drawn from the Delta Data Project between 1987 and 2010. Connections between various categories of revenue/spending and state-level macroeconomic indicators…