This primer is intended to provide college financial aid professionals with a background in fundamental areas of economics. Its goal is to provide a stronger understanding of the key principles that shape need analysis systems. Part 1 presents basic economic concepts and discusses their application to college enrollment and student aid. These include the concepts of supply, demand, price sensitivity, price discrimination, opportunity costs, costs and revenues, market structure, horizontal and vertical equity, human capital, spillover of external factors, incomplete information, consumption vs. investment goods, merit goods, and commercial models and higher education. Part 2 considers specific components of the need analysis system from an economic perspective. The underlying assumptions of the system and specific components of the methodologies are examined. These include: defining necessities, snapshot vs. long-term financial capacity, defining living standards, treatment of multiple children in college, defining income and assets, determining whose income and assets are relevant, allowances against income, tax on savings, home equity, pension assets, allowances against assets, marginal tax rates, and tax rates on assets. (JLS)