Created in 1972, the Pell Grant program awards grants to low-income students to help pay for whatever accredited U.S. college they choose. Totaling $28.4 billion in 2019-20, the program is the most significant source of federal student aid for college. However, as the program turns 50 this year, many advocates are hoping to expand its reach and…

Christopher Martin argues that an interest in strong autonomy supports a right to debt-free higher education and that making tuition free is the best way of enacting that right. We argue that making higher education tuition free would, in the absence of other countervailing measure, maldistribute strong autonomy, even in ideal conditions. We also…

In 2015, 65 universities in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I autonomous conferences changed their scholarship policy by allowing universities to give student-athletes cost of attendance stipends. While student-athletes welcomed this policy change, many people within the higher education community felt the policy change…

This study used the 2015 National Financial Capability Study to investigate the relationships among financial capability, financial education, and student loan debt outcomes. Specifically, this study examines four student loan outcomes: delinquency, stress, preparation, and satisfaction among borrowers who obtained loans for themselves. Three…

Objective: To quantify students' risk tolerance for in-person classes and willingness-to-pay for online-only instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: 46 Columbia University public health graduate students. Methods: We developed a survey tool with a "standard gamble" exercise administered online by an interactive chat bot…

The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides educational assistance to veterans and certain dependents. Veterans have had educational benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs since World War II, but no prior GI bill programmes have been as comprehensive or administratively complex. Covered benefits include all tuition and fees at any public…

There have now been fifteen years of research on the basic needs of college students in the U.S. The studies have primarily focused on assessing the prevalence of food and housing insecurity. Determining who is responsible and finding solutions have been less emphasized. The scholarship has also not framed the problems of students' basic needs…

This study seeks to assess whether self-interest influences support for two policies to cancel student debt--one forgiving all student debt and one taking a means-tested approach to debt forgiveness. Each of these policy proposals offers a material benefit to certain groups of individuals while imposing cost or having no benefit to others, which…

This study used responses from 17,354 student veterans on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to investigate the relationship between student engagement and likelihood of withdrawal. Student veterans who utilized campus services more often, and those who perceived campus services as important, reported a higher likelihood of…

Low-income students' preferences for higher education might depend on the uncertainty of financial aid. Using a time discontinuity design, this paper exploits the unanticipated cancellation of a nationwide Colombian merit and need-based scholarship, called "Ser Pilo Paga," to study its consequences on students' preferences for higher…

Decreasing real value in fiscal allocations to higher education is crippling the sector's ability to effectively respond to its broader social and economic transformation mandate enjoined in the South African Constitution. Improving student access, retention, and throughput rate are leading priorities of the Department of Higher Education and…

This study explores whether the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Program, the largest federal investment in community colleges in this nation's history, expanded and improved vocational training programs. We find that, on average, the completion of credentials in career-technical fields increased at…

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…

As higher education tuition continues to rise in the United States and globally, other costs impacting students, such as fees, parking, and housing, are rising at a similar pace. Concurrently, more higher education institutions are focusing on creating boutique experiences for students, including the option for single-unit housing. This paper…

The purpose of this article is to analyse the gendered motivations of students to undertake doctoral research in a low-income country (LIC), Mozambique. Most research on PhD student motivation is done in high-income countries where the drivers for doing a PhD are quite different from those of people living in LICs. Drawing on original empirical…