Growing concerns about low awareness and take-up rates for government support programs like financial aid for college have recently spurred calls to simplify the application process and enhance visibility. However, little research has been done to determine whether such reforms would truly improve college access and in what form…

Research funding has been undergoing a shift from recurrent, stable funding to competitive funding of projects. The system rests on the assumption that the best proposals or the best researchers receive the resources, i.e., that quality is not only necessary but also sufficient to win a grant. A comparative study of the conditions of fund…

Under the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the Federal Communications Commission established a $2.25 billion annual fund to support communications services for needy K-12 schools and libraries. Services eligible for Universal Service support include telephone lines, integrated digital networks, private lines, and Internet access hookups. The…