This newsletter issue focuses on the roles played by higher education finance and student financial aid in ensuring broad access to higher education. Specifically, the report discusses trends in family income and college costs that affect the need for student aid. The report finds that income remains a primary determinant of students' educational…

The interaction of public assistance and student aid is examined, and the effects of these uncoordinated yet overlapping programs on individuals enrolling in postsecondary education programs are assessed. Focus is on the major financial support program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and the most important student aid program,…

With the introduction of a growing number of private schools in the third world, several organisations and groups are endeavouring to examine the effects of such schooling systems on poor pupils. Professor James Tooley, the client, has collected data from seven regions internationally (three in India, three in Africa and one in China). For this…

This report uses government data to review current, past, and proposed tax-based policies and programs to promote college affordability as well as need-based grant aid. Tax-incentive-based programs include savings bonds for education, employer-provided educational assistance, state college savings plans, deductibility of student loan interest,…

This report explores the risks that threaten to trap children in Oakland (California) in a cycle of persistent poverty. It examines the factors that may lead to lives of continued poverty: being a member of a poor family and having a dangerously low weight at birth, not having access to quality education and training, and spending the formative…

This study, the second of a two-part effort, examines how well staff and program resources are distributed to Catholic high schools that serve low income students. The study involved 106 schools. Nearly two-thirds of the students came from families earning less than $20,000. The first section gives background on Catholic education and describes…

This study compares the amount parents proposed to contribute to their child's education and the amount they can reasonably be expected to pay, based on two separate financial formulas. The two formulas are the consensus methodology developed by the National Task Force on Student Aid Problems (the Keppel Commission) and that of the family…

Public education in Ireland is under the control of three different boards--the Commissioners of National Education, established in 1845 and which has charge of the elementary public school system; the Intermediate Board of Commissioners, established in 1878 and which controls a large number of secondary schools; and the Department of Agriculture…

In response to Lee Hansen and Burton Weisbrod's study conducted over a decade ago, California policy has attempted to shift a greater portion of the burden of support for higher education from lower income families. A recent reexamination of the study by Joseph McGuire that disputes the original study is challenged. (JMD)

A study of college affordability compared changes in family income, Pell grants, Stafford loans, and state grants with changes in the average costs of public two- and four-year colleges. It concluded that both sectors became more affordable to low- and middle-income families in the 1970s but less affordable in the 1980s. (Author/DB)

This report examines student financial assistance schemes in Australia in terms of their effectiveness and administration; particular reference is made to the findings of the Auditor-General's report on the administration of the Austudy program. The report discusses topics within the areas of program effectiveness, eligibility criteria, the…

Information is presented on 1981-1982 costs and financial aid for full-time undergraduates in New York. Income data are reported for 2,902 students, along with information about an aid recipient's dependency status and income. Sector comparisons among financially dependent/independent undergraduates are shown. Among financially dependent…

The transcripts of a hearing held in September 1977 include statements of the deputy commissioner of education for student financial assistance, a representative of financial aid administrators, congressional representatives, and a federal official concerned with eligibility and agency evaluation. Prepared statements of these and other…

This statement by the deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Student Financial Assistance of the Office of Education discusses the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program and proposed changes in the Family Contribution Schedules for the 1978-79 academic year. Progress of the BEOG program during its four years of operation is reviewed, and tables…

The United States of America is often called the "land of opportunity," a place where hard work and sacrifice lead to economic success. Across generations, countless families have been able to live out that promise. However, more than one out of four American working families now earn wages so low that they have difficulty surviving…