We examine changes in California's FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) applications during the COVID-19 crisis. There was little change in applications for high school graduates due to an early deadline for state aid. After the deadline--from early March to mid-August--FAFSA applications of potential college freshmen declined 14%,…

Financial aid opens the door to a college degree and makes higher education a real possibility for students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Student knowledge about financial aid availability and application processes, however, varies substantially by race, ethnicity, and income. Despite belonging to families with lower-than-average family…

Ineligibility for state financial aid has traditionally limited undocumented students' access to higher education. Since 2013, the California Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (CA-DREAM) has made state-supported aid available to undocumented college students with demonstrated financial need. We use a difference-in-difference…

"Aiding Success: The Role of Federal and State Financial Aid in Supporting California Community College Students" documents the variation in student graduation and transfer rates by students' financial situation. The authors of "Aiding Success" analyzed detailed financial aid and student success data from the California…

The limited availability of college counseling for many students, especially those from low-income families, means that advising and ready assistance with each stage of the college search and application process is lacking. The research summarized in this brief indicates that the deficiencies in the quality and quantity of college counseling…

The nation's public universities--a key vehicle of upward mobility--must do more to even the playing field for all students. As it currently stands, students from the least advantaged populations earn degrees at a lower rate and are burdened with a greater portion of debt than their peers. However, some standout public universities are reversing…

Many states are experimenting with mechanisms for making college more affordable while maintaining quality and access. This report examines promising or innovative state programs to improve college affordability and credential attainment. Many of these approaches show innovative thinking and bear watching to see if they result in meaningful…

The findings of an annual report by the National Association of State Scholarship & Grant Programs, which each year surveys the state agencies responsible for student aid, calls spending increases in need-based aid for undergraduates "a very positive reversal of the slow growth rate" for such aid. (MLW)

The Social Security student benefit program was reviewed by the U.S. General Accounting Office to determine if it is an unnecessary burden upon the overall Social Security system, and thus upon taxpayers supporting the system. Various U.S. Office of Education programs were also reviewed to determine if they might provide student aid more equitably…

Financial aid for students is now a complex educational industry, with expenditures in California reaching $1,500,000,000 in 1987 (including loans, grants, and jobs). This has grown from under $10,000,000 in the 1950s. As it became more important to study the policies involved in student financial aid, The Eureka Project was created. This…

The California Student Aid Commission's comparison of the Uniform Methodology, the California Grant Programs, and institutional procedures for determining student financial contribution is summarized. The only consistent relationship found was in total student financial responsibility. An alternative model for coordinating state and institutional…

Designed to help educational policy makers understand student financial aid in California, this booklet covers the importance of aid, how it has changed, current programs, need analysis, packaging, public and student views, graduate aid, and politics and problems of aid. As student financial aid became a larger and more complex educational…

Presented in both English and Spanish language formats, this workbook explains how California residents can qualify for and obtain student financial aid in the form of federal and state grants and loans, work-study programs, institutional grants, federal campus-based programs, and the Federal Family Education Loan Program loans. A calendar of…

The history of student aid policies in California is reviewed by the Eureka Project to help guide policy formation and review developments that have accounted for past consensus about the state's role in providing student aid. Attention is directed to: the demographic facts that have made student aid important to California; the evolution of…

In the 1986 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965, Congress mandated the specific system of need analysis to be used in determining need for most of the programs authorized in Title IV of the Act. This system will replace the system called Uniform Methodology (UM) for federally supported programs and is expected to be adopted for most…