Financial barriers in the form of high prices net of all grant aid at four-year public colleges play a critical role in both dimensions of unequal bachelor's degree attainment rates by family income: (1) First, the barriers are a primary cause of low- and moderate-income, college-qualified high school graduates being unable to attain bachelor's degrees at the same rate as their middle- and high-income peers; and (2) Second, the barriers also reduce the number of low- and moderate-income students graduating from high school college-qualified, by diminishing incentives to prepare and plan for college. To demonstrate these points, this report: (1) estimates losses of bachelor's degrees among college-qualified high school graduates from low- and moderate-income families for the decade of the 1990s and the current decade; (2) derives high-level findings about the impact of financial barriers, including an exploration of how such barriers undermine academic preparation, information, and simplification efforts; and (3) identifies the broad implications of those findings for federal, state, and institutional policy. The purpose of the report is to formulate a flexible analytical framework in which the impact of financial barriers on bachelor's degree attainment can be assessed. This framework must be used to evaluate priorities and proposals in the current reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). Appended are: (1) Advisory Committee 2003 Reauthorization Letter; (2) Advisory Committee Simplification Recommendations; (3) Advisory Committee Members; (4) Advisory Committee Staff; and (5) Authorizing Legislation. (Contains 30 figures, 2 tables and 45 endnotes.)