Finding the funds to attend college often means that many students must acquire loan debt through financial aid. This confusing but critically necessary process can influence college planning and enrollment decisions, post-college employment, and other important life choices, such as enrolling in graduate school, buying a home, or getting married.…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

The State constitution and state statutes require Nebraska's Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education to review the budget requests of the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State College System, and the community colleges in light of specific criteria set forth in the statutes. The Commission also makes recommendations on major…

College promise programs are spreading throughout this United States. These programs fund tuition and/or fees for eligible students who are actively progressing toward earning postsecondary certificates and undergraduate degrees. While existing college promise programs have varying designs, each one appears to be seeking continuous and long-term…

The cost of a college degree is an enormous challenge for many students. Not only has tuition increased across the country in response to state disinvestment in higher education, but the additional costs associated with attending college (including books and supplies, transportation, and living expenses that can exceed $19,000 annually) present…

This report, the seventh in this series, brings together again in partnership the Pell Institute with the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy of the University of Pennsylvania (PennAHEAD). These reports draw from multiple sources of existing data to provide, in one place, indicators that describe trends in equity in postsecondary…

The State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) annual report from Trellis Research provides information helpful in informing policy and programs for higher education student financial aid. The report serves as a reference for colleges, universities, and policymakers, and provides a comparison of Texas state and federal student aid…

We examine the likely implications of switching from a prior year (PY) financial aid system, the current practice in which students file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) using income data from the previous tax year, to prior-prior year (PPY), in which data from two years before enrollment is used. While PPY allows students to…

The rising price of a college education often leaves students strapped for cash and without the financial resources necessary to succeed in school and cover their basic needs, such as housing and food. These students are living on the edge, and a financial emergency can derail their dreams of obtaining college degrees. The contemporary financial…

Michigan's public education system remains in a perennial rut, as it has for decades. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Michigan's fourth grade reading scores show no significant change over the past 16 years. Even before the pandemic, too many dreams have stalled, and academic achievement remains largely…

Students with a zero expected family contribution (EFC) are those with the greatest financial need and least ability to pay for college and now make up more than one in three American undergraduate students. Yet little is known about the year-to-year financial aid volatility of these students, or whether it varies by how the zero EFC was…

For the institution and its regional campuses under review, the amount of outstanding student liabilities (i.e., monies owed by the student to the institution for educational-related expenditures not satisfied by the end of the term) grew at an alarming rate between 2000 and 2014, with some of the institution's regional campuses experiencing over…

This issue of "Policy Insights" reviews the results of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's annual survey of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in the WICHE region and discusses related policy implications. (Data from the survey were published in November 2016.) Overall, tuition and fees in the WICHE…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

This white paper considers the affordability of four-year public institutions for an average Pell Grant recipient who receives the average amount of grant aid, takes out the average amount of federal loans, and collects reasonable work wages to contribute to an education. An astounding 75 percent of residential four-year institutions--including 90…