The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the primary gatekeeper to secure financial aid for college. The federal government instituted two changes to the process in 2017, commonly known as "prior-prior year" FAFSA: (1) an earlier start date that lengthens the filing period and (2) the ability to use completed taxes from…

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…

Most Latinx students who begin their academic journey begin at community colleges. Yet, the cost of college is a significant barrier for Latinx students in completing a degree. The purpose of this study was to explore the intentionality of financial support for Latinx student at an Emerging HSI California community college as it becomes HSI.…

On August 24, 2022, President Biden announced that his administration would be cancelling $10,000 -- $20,000 of student debt for middle- and lower-income borrowers. Naturally, this announcement has unleashed a wave of follow-up questions among borrowers. This fact sheet is intended to help Californians with student loans navigate the process of…

This report by the Affordable Student Housing Taskforce is presented to the Board of Governors for consideration and approval. The Taskforce was comprised of California Community College four Board of Governors members, stakeholders, and college professionals, including representatives from the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, the…

Promise programs have grown in popularity as a way to provide college tuition/fees and other student supports in the hopes of increasing college access and success. This chapter presents results from a comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation of the Lake Tahoe Community College Promise Program. Using rich administrative data and interviews with…

The Latino population is a rapidly growing group in California, yet the rates of Latino student athletes competing at the NCAA Division I level is maintaining an alarmingly low percentage. The discrepancy in these numbers continues to have a substantial impact on the college completion rate of Latino students. The problem addressed in this study…

In a time of increasing economic inequality, lower levels of government investment in higher education, and rising tuition costs, students vying for a college degree experience financial concerns as important influences on their college experience. An emerging body of literature has focused on the relationship between student finances and academic…

Some high school seniors who plan to attend college in the fall following graduation do not enroll. This phenomenon, known as summer melt, contributes to lower educational attainment, particularly among low-income students. We extend the literature on summer melt in two ways. First, we show that melt estimates can be sensitive to measurement…

California has traditionally kept college affordable with a combination of low tuition--particularly at its community colleges-- and generous financial aid. However, in an era of constrained resources, revenue volatility, and increasing economic inequality, a resilient, effective, and efficient financial aid system is increasingly important. The…

Obtaining a college degree has long been considered the key to achieving the American Dream, yet for many it has become increasingly difficult to afford college, as funding for federal financial aid has failed to keep pace with rising tuition costs. Prior research in this area has relied heavily on quantitative data analysis, with limited access…

If the state of California finds the funds, the Cal Grant Reform Act--as enacted in the 2022 Budget Act--is to be implemented in 2024 to support hundreds of thousands of Californians in affording, accessing, and succeeding in higher education. Instead, the state has proposed adding more funding to the less equitable Middle Class Scholarship (MCS)…

TICAS partnered with higher education researcher Dr. Donald E. Heller to examine the "affordability gap" that students are facing when paying for college. The report uses federal data to determine the so-called "college affordability gap" in three states--California, Michigan, and New York--with a focus on students who are…

Five years after our 2019 analysis of student borrowing rates across the University of California (UC) system, TICAS partnered with the University of California Student Association (UCSA) again to evaluate the state of affordability and student debt for undergraduates at the UC, and their implications for student success. While our analysis finds…

For decades, college tuition costs have been skyrocketing, yet state financial aid has failed to meet the increasing economic needs of college students -- leaving many young people with the choice of bridging the financial gap by taking out student loans or not attending college at all. This pressing issue of rising college tuition is not just a…