This paper examines how colleges respond to the introduction of broad merit aid programs. Previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on enrollment, student choices, and post-matriculation outcomes. Yet much less is known about how state-implemented merit aid programs affect colleges' financial decisions. To explore impacts, college…

Reports trends over a recent nine-year period in student access to and choice of public or private college as related to availability of monetary awards from one of the largest state student financial aid agencies, the Illinois State Scholarship Commission. Survey responses indicate that state awards foster access to Illinois college and…

This literature review suggests that student aid is an effective mechanism for promoting equal educational opportunity and that the erosion in federal grant dollars has influenced an erosion in minority group access to higher education. Research findings on equal opportunity components including access, choice of school, persistence, choice of…

The impact of student financial aid policies, programs, and procedures on private college enrollment patterns is discussed. Because state subsidies to public institutions create a two-tiered pricing structure in higher education, independent institutions depend on those programs and policies that encourage college choice rather than access.…