This report presents a comprehensive overview of the parental role in higher education. It is on various data sources, including a nationally representative survey of 750 parents of current college students. The report addresses issues ranging from selecting an institution, to paying tuition, to patterns of saving and borrowing, to the demographic characteristics of both parents and students. Major findings include the following: (1) although parental financial assistance appears to be increasing modestly, the dollar amounts are covering a smaller proportion of the average price of attendance; (2) most parents are not going into debt to provide financial assistance to their children, but those who do borrow are borrowing larger amounts; (3) parents may not be realistic about what they should expect to pay for college; and (4) the most important factors influencing how much parents pay to assist their children appear to be income and the total price of attendance. Following an executive summary and an introduction, report sections address the following topics: changing roles, previous research, characteristics affecting parental roles, examination of data from the National Center on Educational Statistics, the study's parent survey, and conclusions from the survey's findings. Seventeen tables detail study findings. Appended are additional methodological and statistical information. (Contains 35 references.) (DB)