The COVID pandemic created an unprecedented crisis for students and their families. Parents saw most of their college-enrolled children switch to hybrid or fully online learning. Student and family engagement became almost exclusively electronic and online. And the economic fallout of the pandemic impacted the ability of students and families to…

The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program was established under the Equal Opportunity Act of 1964 to place low-income students with part-time employment to offset some educational expenses. In 1965, it was moved by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the Higher Education Act of 1965. The program was originally established as a job development program to…

The development of cost-efficient pathways is a topic of increasing political and scholarly interest across many North American jurisdictions. It has been suggested that 'seamless' transfer pathways can provide financial savings to both students and taxpayers. However, such claims are typically based on hypothetical cost calculations, as opposed…

The research question of this study was: How do the lack of cultural capital and the demand for academic credentials dictate educational opportunities and the enrollment of vulnerable student populations at for-profit schools? This study examined the enrollment of students, especially those of lower-socioeconomic status in for-profit schools. The…

This Data Point is based on data from four iterations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a large, nationally representative sample survey of students that focuses on how they finance their postsecondary education. This Data Point includes data on the percentage of total price of attendance covered by Pell Grants and the…

This Data Point is based on data from four iterations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a large, nationally representative sample survey of students that focuses on how they finance their postsecondary education. This Data Point includes data on the percentage of total price of attendance covered by Pell Grants and the…

Verification is a federally mandated process that requires selected students to further attest that the information reported on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is accurate and complete. In this brief, we estimate institutional costs of administrating the FAFSA verification mandate and consider variation in costs by…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unique challenges to international students. Student Affairs and Services (SAS) across the higher education sector played a key role in supporting students and institutions during the pandemic. This article reports the findings of an exploratory survey with SAS practitioners from around the globe on the ways in which…

Student loan debt in the United States is $1.6 trillion and rising. The public debate concerning the human capital value vs. the social capital value of higher education has been shifting toward the former and away from the latter standpoint in recent years. I observe how the current system of Federal student loans is proving inadequate for a…

Over the past two decades, educational debt has quickly transformed US colleges and universities into spaces of cruel optimism: the higher education that students desire is all too often an obstacle to their flourishing. This study maps the contours of the white, middle-class attachment to the college dream, paying particular attention to the…

Over the last five years, Puerto Rico has faced fiscal and economic disruptions, demographic shifts, hurricanes and earthquakes, governance challenges, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While most of these conditions are not new to Puerto Rico, the intersection of all these challenges created a nexus for institutional resilience and efforts. This…

The Tuition and Fee Report is produced annually by the Colorado Department of Higher Education to provide detailed information on the tuition and fee rates at Colorado's public institutions, as well as to give context regarding the state funding environment in which tuition and fee rate-setting occurs. Colorado has mirrored national trends over…

This article estimates the effects on depressive symptoms, family relationships, social support, and academic self-efficacy of participating in a forgivable loan program, using an instrumental variable (IV) estimation strategy. In particular, we estimate local average treatment effects (LATE) of program participation on these variables, using…

Financial aid has helped millions of students pay for their education beyond high school. This document provides information about federal and Minnesota financial aid programs, including the following sections: (1) How do I apply for financial aid?; (2) Five basic steps to apply for financial aid; (3) What types of financial aid are available?;…

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to upend the lives of students in higher education institutions. In particular, the pandemic has had deleterious effects on students' mental health, leading to increased prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Healthy Minds Network & American College Health…