For more than 40 years, student-loan providers have helped millions of American families achieve the kinds of dreams made possible by the best higher-education system in the world. Federal guaranteed loans, or loans made by individual lenders that are backed by the federal government, have made college more affordable by being the lowest-cost…

The references in this annotated bibliography summarize recent research and policy developments pertaining to federal, state, and institutional financial aid within the community college sector. In addition to reporting on national community college financial aid trends, the documents in this bibliography also present specific state and…

This white paper looks at the way that rising college costs are affecting California families. Higher education in California has historically been guided by the principle that maintaining affordability is paramount to providing access to all students who desire a postsecondary education. However, over recent decades, eroding state funding for…

Years of research support the notion that financial aid can influence students' postsecondary decisions, but questions remain about the best ways to design and implement such programs and policies. This paper serves as a discussion of the research literature on the effectiveness of financial aid with special attention to its implications for…

Systemic increases in tuition across the board indicate that the structure of the higher education market plays a fundamental role in encouraging these increases. Part of the problem is that public policy attempts to subsidize attendance for too many students on the assumption that this will increase access to higher education. These subsidies,…

Many more community college students than students at California's four-year colleges would lose financial aid under Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for 2009. This issue brief finds that the budget-cutting plan would eliminate new Cal Grant awards for 45 percent of community college students who would have received them, compared to five…

This article is part of a yearlong series that will more closely examine the recommendations made in ACTE's postsecondary reform position statement and highlight best practices for implementing each of the recommendations. The sixth recommendation in ACTE's postsecondary reform position statement is to increase financial support for low-income…

In this paper populations of students returning to tertiary study in the period 1997-2005 have been compared with the population of non-returning students who had the same opportunity to return. Such comparisons were conducted for students who returned after a break of 1-7 years (seven comparison groups). Students with the highest likelihood of…

Financial aid can encourage students to enroll in college and increase their odds of academic success. While the California community colleges (CCCs) have very low fees, which are waived for most low-income students, the additional expenses of books, supplies, transportation, housing, food and childcare can create significant financial barriers to…

This Congressional hearing report is intended to provide a broad overview of the current state of higher education and establish a foundation for future hearings on more specific topics concerned with the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Issues addressed in the report include: costs of going to college; characteristics of those who go…

The eighth module in a 17-module self-instructional program on student financial aid administration (designed for novice student financial aid administrators and other personnel) focuses on need analysis. It provides an introduction to the management of federal financial aid programs authorized by the Higher Education Act Title IV. After…

Purpose: This dissertation sought to find the most significant personal strategies and institutional support used by Latino males who successfully complete transfer requirements in the Los Angeles Community College District and determined what factors most contribute to Latino academic success. The study begins with a review of literature and…

Historically, first-generation, low-income, and students with disabilities have had very high attrition rates at California Community Colleges and institutions of higher education in general. Based on figures compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics in 2004, 4.5 million low-income, first-generation college students comprise…

Scope and Method of Study: The overall purpose of the study was to describe the perceptions regarding how AAYAF over 16 years of age plan and make career decisions. The study participants included ten AAYAF over 16 years of age. The young women were interviewed fact-to-face using a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was…

In 2007-08, approximately 21 million students were enrolled in undergraduate postsecondary education in the United States. These Web Tables provide a comprehensive source of information on financial aid that was awarded to undergraduate students during the 2007-08 academic year. Included are estimates of tuition, price of attendance, and financial…