This book examines issues in the provision of student financial aid within the context of continuing changes in governmental student aid policies and private sector decisions resulting in larger and larger shares of the cost of higher education being borne by individuals and their families. The two chapters of Part 1 first review the role student aid has played in the past and the present and then sketches how the shifting environment of higher education is changing the way colleges and universities approach student aid. The four chapters of Part 2 examine how undergraduate education is financed in the United States, identifying differences for various sectors and for students of differing family backgrounds. Implications of recent financing trends for access to and choice of undergraduate college are reviewed. Part 3 focuses on how various categories of colleges and universities have been changing their financing patterns both their sources of revenue and their patterns of expenditure. The effects of external incentives such as government financial aid programs are analyzed and the possibilities of unintended consequences considered. The relationship of pricing and aid decisions by institutions to their strategic competitive choices is also addressed. Part 4 focuses on no-need or merit aid from the viewpoint of both students and institutions. The conclusions in Part 5 address implications for policy at the government level and for individual schools. Principles for decision making are offered. (Contains 48 references and an index.) (DB)