Pell eligibility for incarcerated people is a great rehabilitative opportunity, but several challenges remain. This article recaps five of the issues identified by the original research articles in this special issue. It also considers how solutions proposed in these studies may be beneficial across a variety of these issues and gathers…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

Tuition discounting (TD), a practice whereby institutional grants are used to subsidize a student's educational expense, has become a common practice at four-year institutions. TDs impact on enrollments, financial aid, and budgets continues to increase, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the practice. Drawing upon Breneman's…

In the context of the recent efforts to arrive at a federal budget, articles abound in the popular media and trade publications debating both the value of Pell Grants and their rising cost to the U.S. government. Both pros and cons of the debate hold value. Pell Grants are what enable many low-income families to send their children to college and,…

Over the last three decades, college costs have increased nearly four times faster than median family income. Financial aid has not filled the growing gap, and the share of college costs not covered by financial aid or what the family is expected to contribute has risen sharply. Rising costs and rising debt make college a riskier investment for…

Evidence of greater economic stratification brings challenges to higher education's enrollment of low-income students. With a growing proportion of potential college students coming from low-income households, increasing their post-secondary participation rate is vital in developing and growing the pool of educated individuals for the labor force…

The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) program was designed to meet the unique needs of the state of Tennessee while also incorporating the hallmark elements of existing merit-based aid programs in other states. Developed through a process involving elected officials and members of the academic community, the TELS program aims to…

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to trace the policy production process of a state agency, the Iowa College Student Aid Commission (Commission), to its function today. This case study relied on a review of federal and state statutes, a news article search, biennium reports of the Commission, and information obtained from the…

This report provides data and information relating to the Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, and SC HOPE Scholarships, and the Lottery Tuition Assistance and the SC Need-based Grant Programs. The primary purpose of the Palmetto Fellows Scholarship is to recognize the most academically talented high school seniors in South Carolina and to encourage them to…

America's higher education system is among the best in the world. Nevertheless, there is scope for improvement. In particular, there appear to be substantial financial barriers to higher education despite large government expenditures aimed at promoting access. Policy makers have proposed addressing these barriers by increasing student grants.…

This article relates the story of Jean-Yves Ngabonziza, a full-need international student. During his senior year, on Rwandan National Mourning Day, April 6, 19-year-old Yves spoke to the entire school community for the first time about his past and the past of his native country. He began with the history of central Africa, introduced the…