State education data systems help policymakers use data to evaluate the impact of their efforts to improve education. By disaggregating the data -- that is, breaking it out by different student subgroups -- policymakers can ensure that their efforts address the needs of students who have been traditionally underserved in educational settings. Yet…

In the nation today, 4.6 million young adults ages 16 to 24 are out of school and unemployed. More than one-third live in poverty. For these young people, commonly referred to as opportunity youth, building skills and gaining work experience are key to upward mobility. However, they face significant barriers to entering the labor market.…

Workforce development in the United States today is spread across higher education institutions (primarily public two-year and for-profit colleges), labor market institutions, and workplaces, with public funding from a range of sources. But outcomes for students and workers are weaker than they could be, especially among disadvantaged students and…

The persistently low college enrollment and completion rates of youth from poor families are partly attributable to their uncertainty about whether college is affordable. In the current system, concrete information about college costs arrives at the end of high school and is only available to those who complete a complex application. Evidence…

Estimates indicate that more than one in five low-income State University System undergraduates may not be applying for federal Pell grants and other need-based awards for which they are likely eligible. It is estimated that thousands of Florida students with family incomes of $40,000 or less are probably eligible but are not applying for…

Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG) provides critical support to schools, students, and borrowers at every stage of the federal student aid process--from providing information on how to pay for a higher education including financial aid options, to facilitating successful loan repayment after graduation. This 2016 issue of "State…

Next week, President George W. Bush will submit his eighth and final budget request to the Congress. How has he fared with respect to education budget proposals thus far? Answer: although President Bush made the No Child Left Behind Act, which deals with elementary and secondary education, the hallmark of his education policy, from a federal…

This paper recommends that the federal government take steps to reassert the sense of partnership and common purpose that undergirds college finance in the United States by enacting an old idea that never had become a reality. The original authorizing legislation for the Pell grant program envisioned direct institutional grants to colleges that…

This paper provides a basic understanding of the Pell Grant program and summarizes the evidence regarding its effectiveness. The Basic Educational Opportunities Program, known as the Pell Grant program, began in 1973 as a means of providing disadvantaged students access to a postsecondary education. The Pell Grant program has tried to keep up with…

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 report traces the history of the collection of programs for disadvantaged students known as the TRIO programs and federal student financial aid policies, and finds that national efforts to equalize college opportunities have been losing ground for the past 15 years. The report cites, for example, a study showing that in 1994 a student from a…