The Parent PLUS loan covers the financial gap of a student's educational expenses after other forms of financial assistance. Depending on the unmet need, the PLUS loan amount borrowed can be tens of thousands of dollars for a single academic year. In this research article, I provide results from evaluating financial aid offers at Missouri public,…

In response to rising college tuition and student debt over the past three decades, some institutions, localities, and states have implemented a range of tuition-free promise programs to promote college access and success. Programs vary widely in their design features, including eligibility stipulations and award structure. I explore the growing…

Postsecondary education is associated with achieving economic self-sufficiency and other positive outcomes. Young people in foster care face challenges pursuing postsecondary education, which can lead to them being less likely than their peers to enroll in college and less likely to earn a degree when enrolled. One federal initiative meant to…

The rising price of attending college has made college affordability an increasingly important policy issue in recent years. In order to make college more affordable for students and their families, states can pursue three possible options. The first option is to provide additional state appropriations to colleges, which allows institutions to…

Free college, or "Promise" programs--a model of student aid that covers at least full tuition costs for a subset of a given state's residents--have received a significant boost in the past few years. A central question has been whether the model benefits from more consistent political support over time as compared to other forms of…

In this brief, the authors aim to equip policymakers and advocates for higher education opportunity and equity with a framework for analyzing and pushing for "equity-driven" free college policy. The purpose is not to challenge the momentum around free college, but to understand how programs can be designed to advance opportunity and…

As the price of a public college education has risen at well above the rate of inflation for decades, college affordability has become a key concern in public policy discussions. At the same time, recent high school graduates from lower-income and middle-income families are nearly 20 percentage points less likely to enroll in college the following…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 68 percent in Iowa. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy economy…

In the United States, approximately 65 percent of all jobs in 2020 will require some level of postsecondary education, and the demand will reach 66 percent in Missouri. This report seeks to inform public discourse on higher education by providing key performance indicators relevant to the goal of improving educational attainment for a healthy…

National and regional trends mask important variation among states in the supply of high school graduates. This profile provides brief indicators for Missouri related to: current levels of educational attainment, projections of high school graduates into the future, and two common barriers to student access and success--insufficient academic…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Missouri. Descriptive statistics are presented for Missouri and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Michigan. Descriptive statistics are presented for Michigan and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Ohio. Descriptive statistics are presented for Ohio and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population characteristics,…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Indiana. Descriptive statistics are presented for Indiana and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Kansas. Descriptive statistics are presented for Kansas and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…