The allocation of merit-based awards and need-based aid is important to both universities and students who wish to attend the universities. Current approaches tend to consider only institution-centric objectives (e.g. enrollment, revenue) and neglect student-centric objectives in their formulations of the problem. There is lack of consideration to…

In Fall 2022, the U.S. Education Department unveiled a drastic overhaul of federal student loan policies. The new rules serve as a key vehicle to advance the Biden administration's higher education agenda. However, some of the final regulations look quite different from the policy proposals initially outlined in President Joe Biden's campaign…

College affordability is a significant factor in student access, retention, and completion. Tuition and fee rates are a major component of affordability, as is the availability of financial aid programs from federal, state, institutional and private sources. Strategically designed approaches to college affordability can better assist families in…

In this report, the authors tally the cost of child care and the price of attending a public four-year college--including tuition and fees, housing, food, books, and transportation--to determine a student parent's actual annual cost of pursuing a degree. That number is used to calculate the "student parent affordability gap," that is,…

These tables present data from four administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (2003-04, 2007-08, 2011-12, and 2015-16) showing trends in how graduate students financed their education. Data include the demographic attributes and academic characteristics of graduate students and the average price of attendance for the programs…

Today, costs loom large in public discussions about the problems in higher education. That's no wonder. Tuition at four-year private colleges has grown at an average annual rate of 2.3% above inflation over the past 10 years. Four-year public and two-year institutions have seen similar trends, with tuition growing at an annual rate of 3.1% and…

This dissertation investigates the impact of information and policy on the efficiency of higher education financing, particularly for low-income students in Latin America. Through three empirical studies, it addresses the barriers posed by information asymmetries and institutional discretion in student loan and college admission processes and…

Student enrollment at community colleges within the U.S. has remained flat or decreased for over a decade (AACC, 2019). Before COVID-19, community colleges had been experiencing a steady decline in enrollment for approximately ten years (Irwin et al., 2021). The purpose was to determine whether demographic, environmental, and academic variables…

Higher education is a critical tool for social mobility, but today, students and their families face significant challenges. It is against this backdrop that the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) convened the Task Force on Higher Education Financing and Student Outcomes. This group has identified several areas of federal policy ripe for reform that…

Doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree holders are highly regarded in Kenya, especially in academia, and the Kenyan economy needs them to undertake administrative, research and innovation roles in academia and industry. However, attaining this qualification is arduous and Kenyan PhD programmes are characterised by low enrolment numbers, long degree…

In an era of billions of dollars in outstanding student loan debt, researchers have posited that the U.S. News & World Report rankings continue to be an influential source of information for prospective students, yet these rankings do not include college affordability metrics in their ranking algorithm. As a result, this study performed a…

This research investigates the factors that impact students' perceptions of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education. This study examines the factors that impact the student perception of these materials to add to the pedagogical discussion surrounding the increased use of OER resources as a method of improving student access to…

This report describes findings generated from student focus groups across five GEAR UP campuses in the Fall 2019 semester. The focus group participants described their perspectives of the GEAR UP program, experiences with the GEAR UP activities, and plans for future education. Findings obtained from the 2019 fall student focus groups echoed those…

"Fault Lines in Borrowing: Academic Outcomes of Students in Default" examines factors influencing and influenced by loan defaults among students at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. The findings demonstrate that loan defaults and their harsh penalties are strongly associated with poorer academic persistence and completion. The paper…

In 2014, ACCT and TICAS partnered to examine student loan default at nine community colleges and explore administrative practices aimed at addressing students' default risks. At each college, we analyzed cohort default rate data and uncovered notable trends and populations at higher risk, identified default-reduction strategies the college was…