In 2016, the federal government provided students pursuing higher education with about $91 billion in direct financial support through a wide variety of spending programs and income and payroll tax preferences, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. The largest programs and preferences give financial assistance to students to offset the cost…

With student loan debt reaching approximately $1.4 trillion, critics are concerned that student loans may be the next financial bubble to burst. They cite students with loans of more than $100,000 and ballooning loan default rates. They contend that borrowing for higher education may not be worth the financial risks, especially for students who…

Purpose/Objectives: This study assessed current practices and attitudes of school nutrition program (SNP) management staff regarding free and reduced-price (F-RP) meal application and verification in SNPs. Methods: Stratified, randomly selected 1,500 SNP management staff in 14 states received a link to an online questionnaire and/or a printed…

Purpose: Participation in labour markets and high-value crops among men and women smallholder farmers has always been an important strategy for poverty alleviation and attainment of food and income security. In contributing to the generation of gender-disaggregated empirical literature, this paper examined determinants of women smallholder…

What happens at home in the early years of a child's life is not only key to their success in education, but their success in life. A positive early years home learning environment can predict higher levels of vocabulary, spelling and literacy in young children. The home learning environment has an influence on a child's intellectual and social…

In this article, the authors report on research that shows that extracurricular activities help cultivate the skills, connections, and knowledge that prepare children for lifelong success. They add, however, that low-income students are increasingly being excluded from participating. Struggling with budget cuts and deficits, many school districts…

Background/Context: Within the United States, wealth disparities are growing and upward social mobility is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. These trends call into question the American Dream ideology that anyone can succeed through hard work. This meritocratic ideal has traditionally been one of the unifying ideologies promoted through…

Parent satisfaction with neurodevelopmental evaluations may influence the pursuit of intervention. Parent satisfaction with a neurodevelopmental evaluation for toddlers at risk for autism (n = 257; 128 with autism) was examined using the Post-Evaluation Satisfaction Questionnaire, which collected quantitative and qualitative information. Fewer…

The study investigates parents' perceptions of and engagement with their children's play in the context of Qatar. Quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire that was administered to parents of children aged 4-7 years old in Doha. A total sample of 240 parents responded to the questionnaire. Findings indicated that Qatari parents valued…

This completely updated edition of "The Almanac of American Education" helps users understand and compare the quality of education at the national, state, and county levels. Compiled from official U.S. government sources, this book contains historical and current data, insightful analysis, and useful graphs that provide compelling…

In 2015, Lumina Foundation introduced the Rule of Ten, a new method for assessing college affordability for students in the U.S. The rule rests on the assumption that an "affordable" cost for college should not exceed the total of: (1) what a student and his family can save by putting away 10% of their income for the 10 years before…

This paper extends the current literature on access to post-secondary education by investigating the role played by various family background characteristics related to the home environment and family habits and behaviours. Exploiting the extraordinary richness of the Youth in Transition Survey in this regard, we include whether the family ate…

Whereas the focus of most parental involvement research has been on examining its effects on student outcomes, the goal of our study was to explore the determinants of parental involvement. Drawing on a nationally representative dataset of families with a student in high school, we investigated a hypothesized model in which positive associations…

The aim of this study is to determine Turkish middle school seventh grade students' awareness about the biotic and abiotic factors which constituted nature and to examine the effects of various variables including gender, living place, the mothers' and fathers' educational level and socio-economic status. For this purpose, The Awareness of Nature…

This study investigated the resilience levels of parents with children with multiple disabilities by utilizing different variables. The study, conducted with survey model--a qualitative method--included a sample composed of a total of 222 voluntary parents (183 females, 39 males) residing in Bolu, Duzce and Zonguldak in Turkey. Parental…