Discusses how a long recession will increase students' need for financial assistance, but that unfortunately, institutions are unlikely to cut back on merit aid to do more for the neediest students. (EV)

Analyzes demographic and financial trends affecting future student financial aid needs and considers some possible solutions, including expanding definitions of merit awards to include nondirect inducements for top high school students, prepaid tuition plans sponsored by the federal government, and using information technology to store and…

In the first decade of the 21st century, the nation, the states, and colleges and universities began to grapple with the challenges of globalization, changing demography, the implications of the digital era, and of a less expansive public sector. Although not a transformative period for higher education, the decade saw significant innovations in…

This study provides insight into selected factors which affect choice of teaching as a career as well as choice of a college. Sixty-one percent of the 142 high school students in the sample who marked teaching as their planned career indicated that scholarships were "very important" to career choice. Thirty-two percent indicated that it was…

Georgia's merit-based HOPE scholarships, which cover tuition and fees for over half the undergraduates at the University of Georgia, are credited for bringing better students to the university but also for bringing pressure for grade inflation to the institution. Recipients must maintain a B grade average. The university has become competitive…

Many colleges and universities provide grant aid to undergraduates to help them pay for all or part of the tuition and fees charged by the institution. This study provides information about recent trends in institutional aid receipt and then examines the relationship between such aid and the likelihood of recipients staying enrolled in the…

The "Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005" created two new grant programs for undergraduates: the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) program and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (National SMART) Grant program. The ACG program is intended to encourage students to take challenging courses in high school and thus…

Recent research indicates a trend toward increases in the share of all institution-based student aid funds going to merit aid and in merit scholarship competition among institutions. This paper presents findings of a study that surveyed 379 nonprofit bachelors'-degree-granting institutions in 1983-84 and 1991-92. Findings indicate that the less…

Since the early nineties, a dozen states have established broad-based merit aid programs. The typical program waives tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in one's home state. Unlike traditional merit programs, such as the National Merit Scholarship, this aid requires relatively modest academic performance and provides scholarships…

Each year, the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) completes a survey regarding state-funded expenditures for postsecondary student financial aid. This report, the 36th annual survey, represents data from academic year 2004-05. Data highlights of this survey include: (1) In the 2004-2005 academic year, the states…

This report presents statistical data on admission and in-course merit scholarships awarded to full-time undergraduate students at Ontario universities. Highlights include: (1) 16 percent of the first-year entering class received admission scholarships and 9 percent of the upper-year class received in-course scholarships; (2) females received more…

Mr. Fay Vincent, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball and Executive Vice President of The Coca Cola Company, provides a crisp, concise assessment of a trend that has worried us for quite a while: the growing trend of rewarding academically-gifted and typically-affluent students with an extra dose of merit aid, often at the expense of…

A survey of student services staff, merit scholarship recipients, and a sampling of administrators, faculty, and students at a large land-grant institution concerning no-need scholarships shows the aid is seen as useful and monies used for it should not reduce amounts available for need-based scholarships. (MSE)

Reflections on the profession of admissions officer include the need for sharing of information within the profession, the admissions officer as enrollment manager, the role of intercollegiate athletics, and merit scholarships. (MSE)

Discusses data that indicate that students' academic promise is increasingly influencing even the amount of "need-based" aid they receive, signaling that families' demonstrated financial need is of less importance than they may expect when they fill out all those financial aid forms. (EV)