This paper reviews the literature on the relationship between rising tuition and access to public higher education in the United States. It reviews research on the relationship between tuition and enrollment in higher education, noting that every study considered has found an inverse relationship between tuition and enrollment rates. The evidence…

Information on college applications, acceptances, financial aid, and attendance is presented based on base-year and first follow-up data for the National Longitudinal Study and the High School and Beyond Study of the Federal Center for Education Statistics. The focus is on changes that occurred between 1972 and 1980 in the two senior cohorts. Many…

The purposes and known effects of student financial aid programs in U.S. higher education are reviewed. The rationale for the creation of federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs is considered, including state grant and scholarship programs, independent college programs, work-study programs, special purpose programs, and private…

The impact of student input characteristics and college environments on types and amounts of financial aid received by men and women are studied. A demographic description of federal student financial aid recipients can be valuable to policy makers in evaluating the degree of success in providing aid to target populations. (MLW)

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this study examined factors related to postsecondary education enrollment, focusing on the impact of early indicators and financial aid. Major findings of the report indicated the following: (1) a majority of students, 63 percent by 1994, attended some type of postsecondary…

A supplement to a 1982 study on the impact of student charges on access to public postsecondary education in California is presented. The study was conducted by the California Postsecondary Education Commission at the request of the California Legislature. After considering the complex process of instituting new state policies for new conditions,…

As the number of teacher education majors has decreased nationally over the last ten years, the declining number of non-white teacher education students has been even more acute. Today barely 10 percent of the teaching force is non-white and that representation continues to decline annually. This policy paper reviews the current status of minority…

The extent to which student financial aid has changed the composition of young people attending and planning to attend college is considered. The income redistribution policies of the 1960s and 1970s included rapid expansion of federal financial aid programs and reflected a shift from the goal of promoting economic efficiency and faster economic…

Designed to help Indian secondary school students plan for achieving a college education, the guide provides detailed information related to each of eight topics: Choosing a College, Admission Procedures, Financial Aid, Miscellaneous Forms, Senior Year Time Table, College Here I Come, College Here I Am, and Staying in College. Examples of specific…

Educational policy has been directed toward assuring students access to some form of postsecondary education regardless of their financial or socioeconomic circumstances. Trends in enrollments of low-income freshman students are examined. Evidence indicates that college access by low-income students may have reached a plateau. (MLW)

Strategies include cutting costs to make college more attractive, building financial aid by raising tuition, seeking more government assistance, raising the perceived value of higher education, and raising the actual value of higher education. (MSE)

Three decades after massive government commitment to financial aid, minority and low income access is declining and aid going to middle class students. Policies and political deadlock have worsened the situation of those in need, and hard choices must be made if college access is to be restored without greater expenditures. (SK)

Summarizes prior studies with a focus on untangling how changes in student financial aid policy have influenced changes in opportunity. Also recommends new strategies for lowering student loan debt, increasing federal and state cooperation in providing adequate need-based grant aid, and developing policies that target debt forgiveness for…

Results of studies concerning socioeconomic inequality characteristic of student populations in most university systems and equality of opportunity at the point of university entrance are considered in relation to the accessibility of Ontario universities to students from low-income families. Important considerations in the design of such studies…

This study reviews higher education assumptions of traditional net-price theory and an emerging approach considering a set of price and subsidies in enrollment and persistence decisions. Results suggest that within-year persistence decisions made by students from all income groups are more sensitive to tuition charges than to student aid.…