The structure of U.S. congressional support for college student financial aid during the 96th and 97th Congresses was assessed. Senators' roll call votes on student aid legislation were analyzed, using factor and discriminant analysis. Using a content-free classification scheme, attention was directed to whether voting patterns were policy-determined, ideology-determined, or determined by other factors. The following questions were addressed: (1) whether relationships among given coalitions of senators were altered by changes in the political scene between the 96th and 97th Congresses; (2) whether senators present in both the 96th and 97th Congresses appeared in the same coalitions in each Senate; (3) whether constituent groups found individual senators within coalitions voting similarly in both Congresses; (4) whether coalition voting behaviors in both Congresses were distinguishable within and across policy dimensions; and (5) whether coalitions collaborate and/or compete to influence legislation. Constituency support was measured by averaging lobbyists' ratings of individual senators across coalitions. A distinct pattern of four differentiated multi-issue Senate coalitions emerged that were closely associated with political parties, two with each party. (SW)