This report compiles the research on racial disparities both in the use of student debt and in higher education outcomes, specifically focusing on disparities between white students and Black students. In order to do so, the authors bring together two streams of research that are often siloed: research from experts on higher education access and…

This "First Look" presents findings from the provisional data of the IPEDS winter 2014-15 data collection, which included four survey components: (1) Graduation Rates (GR); (2) 200 Percent Graduation Rates (GR200); (3) Student Financial Aid (SFA); and (4) Admissions (ADM). GR and GR200 present graduation rates for selected cohorts within…

For-profit, or proprietary, colleges are the fastest-growing postsecondary schools in the nation, enrolling a disproportionately high share of disadvantaged and minority students and those ill-prepared for college. Because these schools, many of them big national chains, derive most of their revenue from taxpayer-funded student financial aid, they…

This report describes the universe, methods, and editing procedures used in the 2012-13 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data collection. IPEDS data consist of basic statistics on postsecondary institutions regarding tuition and fees, number and types of degrees and certificates conferred, number of students enrolled, number…

This Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Report uses data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies (NPSAS:96, NPSAS:2000 and NPSAS:04) to examine trends in Stafford loan borrowing among undergraduates. NPSAS consists of nationally representative survey data that focus on student financial aid and the enrollment and background…

The "ability to benefit" provision in Title IV, Higher Education Act, and the Reagan Administration's proposal to eliminate it as a basis for student aid eligibility are discussed. Regulations and data related to the provision, pro and con arguments regarding "ability to benefit," and policy alternatives are described. (MLW)

Since the late 19th century, the proprietary school sector in the United States has undergone four major cycles of scandal and reform: the emergence of the commercial college sector in the 1870s, the progressive era of the early 20th century, the fallout of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill), and the period following the 1972…

Literature concerning U.S. proprietary vocational schools and student financial aid is reviewed, focusing on public and interprofessional attitudes, industry reforms, the schools as businesses, enrollments, student characteristics, program characteristics and costs, completions, job placement, earnings, federal student aid, aid recipients, and…

More than $25 billion in financial aid in 1988 is awarded annually to students attending postsecondary education. The aid covers about the same percentage of college costs that it did in 1970, but the impact of veterans' education benefits and social security benefits is no longer significant, and loans now make up one-half the total aid, having…