Financial aid and college preparatory programs are designed in part to allow students from low-income families to have the same choices of institutions as those from middle- and upper-income groups. Unfortunately, despite providing more than $100 billion in financial aid and college preparatory assistance, state and federal policy makers have been…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue looks at changes in cohort composition. The analysis addresses the changing composition of the Achieving the Dream student cohorts from 2002 to 2005. The data show that at Achieving the Dream colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students increased over the four cohorts…

This analysis examines alternative ways to use the approximately $6 billion now spent annually on Pell Grants to produce higher maximum awards for low-income students. The need for such alternatives is based on the rapidly declining value of the maximum Pell Grant as a percentage of college costs. A table offers 5-year baseline projections under…

This discussion of how the effectiveness of federal student aid can be evaluated is framed in terms of three questions: (1) Has federal student aid expanded educational opportunity; that is, has it encouraged the enrollment and broadened the educational choices of disadvantaged students? (2) Has federal student aid made the distribution of higher…

This book analyzes the financing of U.S. higher education. Chapter 1, "Introduction," discusses education's response to the labor market, causes of the financing crisis and constraints, and justifying change. Chapter 2, "How We Pay for College," examines components of the financing system; determining expected family…

This study examined the use of education tax credits at four community colleges using data from the Federal Quality Assurance Program in 1998, the first year of the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credit (LLTC). Preliminary estimates indicated that the two tax credits were expected to primarily benefit middle-income tax filers with…

The impact of state funding of higher education and corrections on African American men was studied by analyzing the National Association of State Budget Officers' annual state expenditure reports for the 15-year period from 1985 to 2000. To ensure proper scale, all 1985 figures were converted to 2000-year dollars by using the Bureau of Labor…

For several decades, education has assumed a vital role in this country's economic, social, and political development, catapulting less advantaged citizens into higher social classes and the political process. A testament to education's fundamental importance in our society are the numerous programs designed during the 1960s to eliminate the…