In John Steinbeck's classic novel "The Pearl," a poor Mexican fisherman finds a valuable pearl in an oyster. But instead of leading to riches, the "treasure" brings him only envy among his neighbors and violence against his family. He can't even convert the pearl to cash. Comparable drama is familiar fare for today's fund-raising professionals and…

Data on 2,822 Vanderbilt University graduates were used to investigate alumni giving behavior during the 8 years after graduation. A two-stage model accounting for individual truncation was used first to estimate the likelihood of making a contribution and second to estimate the average gift size conditional on contributing. The type of financial…

This report presents relevant policy research, historical perspective, and an agenda of major issues involved in the complex process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA). Like many other federal laws, the HEA is not permanent. It expires on September 30, 2004, and this expiration requires that the 108th Congress consider extending or…

This book suggests a major overhaul to the student financial aid system. It asserts that colleges and universities, not the federal government, should provide loan guarantees, and the federal government should provide all grants. This premise is supported in these chapters: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "The History of Financial Aid in…

At its October 2002 meeting, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board discussed the effects of recent trends in higher education financing on the state's ability to achieve the goals of the state's higher education plan, "Closing the Gaps." This paper, prepared as a "next step" agenda item at the January 2003 Board…

The federal government provides student loans for college and graduate school in two ways: by: (1) guaranteeing bank loans; and (2) by lending directly to students. Approximately three-quarters of federal student loans are guaranteed and one-quarter are direct. In the guaranteed loan program, a 40-year-old system, banks lend students money and…

This paper notes that financing policy is potentially the most powerful policy tool states can use to influence how institutions, students, and employers behave in ways consistent with broader public purposes. It is often not wielded effectively. After identifying elements of financing policy and major issues that relate to these elements, the…

This manual identifies the major changes for 2002-2003 in EDExpress, the electronic data exchange aspect of the Title IV student financial aid application process. It describes the major changes in the global EDExpress module and the App Express module and discusses locations for other resources describing changes in EDExpress. The Global Module…

This manual is a guide to handling data related to the federal student financial aid program through the electronic data exchange (EDE) system EDExpress. The overview defines how data is exchanged and identifies key players in the exchange of data. The overall process for sending and receiving data is outlined, along with the overall processing…

This analysis, based on data from multiple sources, examines the affordability of higher education in the United States. The report contains information on public and private education, but the emphasis is on public colleges and universities, and the implications primarily affect the states. The principal basis for assessing the affordability of…

This booklet is intended to be used with a set of slides as part of a presentation to students on "How To Apply for Federal Student Aid." The first part of the book is a script based on the slides. The images displayed on each slide are also provided in the booklet. After the script is a guide to hosting a financial aid information program. The…

The Pell grant program is the largest federal need-based grant program available to postsecondary education students. This report provides a description of Pell Grant recipients who were first-time beginning postsecondary students in the 1995-1996 academic year. Using data from the 1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study First…

Fees will become an increasingly important funding source for public universities in the UK and throughout the OECD, caused in part by declining government subsidization and rising costs, as well as by an increasingly entrepreneurial drive by institutions themselves to increase revenues. Beginning in September 2006, universities and Further…

Packaging is the process of finding the best combination of aid to meet a student's financial need for college, given limited resources and the institutional constraints that vary from school to school. This guide to packaging under the EDExpress software system outlines three steps to packaging. The first is determining the student's need for…

This is the final report on the fiscal year of Student Financial Assistance (SFA). It reports on progress toward three objectives: (1) customer satisfaction; (2) reducing the overall cost of delivering student aid; and (3) employee satisfaction. Of the planned projects, SFA completed all but three. One was postponed, one was dropped as not cost…