The purpose of this publication is to describe how a school becomes eligible to participate in the Federal Student Aid (FSA) programs and to explain the administrative and fiscal requirements of FSA program participation. In addition, this publication discusses other issues relevant to the general administration of the FSA programs. A summary of…

The purpose of this publication is to provide participating schools with guidance on how to request, disburse, manage, and report on the use of Federal Student Aid funds. A summary of the changes and clarifications is presented in greater detail in the chapters that are contained in this volume: Chapter 1, The MPN (Master Promissory Note) and the…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the second of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of stop-outs at Achieving the Dream colleges. In this issue, students who stop out during high- frequency terms are examined by age, developmental referral status, grade point average and…

This study had two primary objectives. First, this study sought to create a classification system to which publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities could be grouped according to geographical service (rural-serving, suburban-serving, or urban-serving. Second, once the classification system was developed and…

In Texas, Hispanic populations (people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race) have increased from 6.7 million in 2000 to 7.4 million in 2005, or by approximately 10.5%. This growth trend is expected to continue with estimates that Hispanics will represent approximately 37%…

Stateline.org recently called this recession the worst in 50 years for state budgets. As has been the case in past economic downturns, higher education looks to be particularly hard hit. Funds from the American Recovery and Relief Act may have postponed some of the difficulty for many colleges and universities, but the outlook for public higher…

There has recently been a shift towards private expenditure in the tertiary education sector accompanied by a shift of public subsidies to students themselves. Implicit in this shift is the message that tertiary education is a private rather than public good, belonging to individual students rather than society. This paper explores the research on…

This study explored college student persistence at a historically Black university affected by Hurricane Katrina. Predictor variables including sex, residence status, Pell Grant status, campus housing status, college grade point average, attendance before Hurricane Katrina, and attendance at the university by parents or another close relative were…

The experience of war makes those who fight a special group within the general population. The purpose of this study was to investigate how combat veterans who become college students make the transition to campus life, in order to identify how administrators can acknowledge and support them. A total of six women and 19 men were interviewed; 24…

Student services professionals are committed to helping students, including the new generation of military servicemembers. However, navigating the maze of federal programs and policies designed to help these deserving individuals requires special knowledge. This chapter assists campus administrators by providing information, first, on the rich…

The constant flow of alarming economic and business news, rapidly declining endowments and potential disruption to the student-loan industry have all beaten down optimism about higher education's financial and strategic outlook. Universities large and small have announced budget cuts, layoffs, salary freezes, capital spending slowdowns and other…

The practice of reducing student aid packages by the dollar amount of private donors' gifts to individual students as a means of reducing institutional gift assistance is criticized as effectively subverting the donor's intent in giving the gift and as possibly placing the donor in legal jeopardy. (MSE)

A survey of students at a Midwestern university revealed that, overall, most students agreed or strongly agreed that they were adequately informed about financial aid; that understanding various aspects of financial aid was important; and that they received clear guidance to help resolve their problems or answer their questions by staff who served…

Building on results of a study of chronic stressors in financial aid offices, 5 focus groups composed of financial aid officers identified specific, feasible, and effective countermeasures aimed at the 11 most critical stressors. The resulting countermeasures are presented and explained. (MSE)

Explores how a dispute between the U.S. Department of Education and Saint Louis University over alleged misuse of professional judgment in the awarding of over 2,000 Pell grants could change how campus officials handle students' financial aid requests. (EV)