How much postsecondary education costs families, and how much is publicly financed, varies immensely across countries and the proper balance is hotly debated. The United States, despite having a highly privately financed system, is home to hundreds of local and provincial (i.e. state) 'free college' programmes. I review the growing literature on…

For workers employed in the public and nonprofit sectors, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program offers the potential for full forgiveness of federal student loans for those with 10 years of full-time work experience. A year-long waiver issued by the Department of Education in 2021 to address administrative problems in program access…

How have changes in the price of enrolling full time at public 2- and 4-year colleges affected student decisions about whether and where to enroll in college? Using local differences in the growth of tuition at community colleges and public 4-year colleges, we study the impact of public higher education tuition prices on the post-secondary…

Objective/Research Question: States have increasingly used merit-based criteria to distribute scholarships and grants, and the dominant conversation on merit-aid programs centers on students attending 4-year colleges and universities. This study examines the characteristics of state-funded merit-aid programs for community college students and…

Education is a fundamental right, yet access to tertiary education remains a challenge for marginalized communities worldwide. To address this, the Philippine government launched the Expanded Students' Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) in 2013, offering free college education to impoverished but academically inclined students.…

In 2016 Chile initiated a policy of free tuition for students from families in the lower half of the income distribution to improve access to and completion of higher education. The empirical effectiveness of the policy has not yet been completely demonstrated. This study analysed the difference in levels of academic performance of students…

This article traces the development of four narratives of financial assistance for Australian university students - to encourage excellence; to meet public need; to build the stock of human capital; and as universal provision - and their effect on the development of a fifth narrative, centred on the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS).…

This study focuses on tuition reset policies, where colleges reduce the published sticker price by at least 5%, and in many instances, much more. We use a difference-in-differences design to examine the effect of these policies on student enrollment disaggregated by race/ethnicity and a proxy for economic disadvantage. On average, these policies…

Community college baccalaureates (CCBs) provide an affordable pathway to baccalaureate-level education but increasing tuition rates present a potential financial barrier for students. Institutional aid as a cost-constraining mechanism has historically been less utilized in the 2-year sector when compared to traditional 4-year institutions. Yet,…

Objective: To evaluate how family functioning, family contributions to college expenses, and access to mentors are associated with college student's self-reported health and flourishing, and to test for moderation by family structure. Participants: Undergraduate college students (N = 238) recruited through an email list-serve at a large midwestern…

Administrative burden, or the frictions individuals experience in accessing public programs, has implications for whether and which eligible individuals receive aid. While prior research documents barriers to accessing federal financial aid, less is known about the extent to which state aid programs impose administrative burden, how administrative…

Background: In recent years, there has been generalized concern in all countries about increasing the younger population's level of financial literacy. However, there is still little evidence on the key factors explaining financial literacy, as the existing literature is inconclusive about this issue. This paper focuses on exploring whether…

Meeting today's prospective college students where they are is key to staying ahead of current enrollment challenges. Understanding which messages resonate with which students and at certain parts of the enrollment funnel helps to ensure institutions are getting the right message, to the right student, at the right time in their journey. By…

Compared to previous generations, U.S. college students must increasingly rely on non-government sources of money to pay for college. Yet, paying for college looks markedly different for students from marginalized communities, given historical exclusion and inequitable access to financial capital. Using data from a longitudinal study of…

Educational practitioners, researchers, and policymakers have focused on increasing community college transfer rates as an equity strategy for improving social and economic mobility among historically underserved populations. While there is a vast amount of research on students who have successfully transferred, there is limited evidence base on…