The Committee for Economic Development (CED) is pleased to present these research findings regarding ways to reform student financial aid. In 2012, CED released "Boosting Postsecondary Education Performance"--calling on business to become active advocates at the state level for broad-access institutions that are so vital to the nation's economic future. In this spirit, CED presents this latest analysis of possible ways to strengthen student financial aid. This paper includes Trustee feedback from some of the members of CED's Postsecondary Education Subcommittee. CED believes this paper is an important contribution to the larger debate regarding student financial aid. The five principles of reform outlined in the paper include: (1) The purpose of federal financial aid is to ensure that individuals who can benefit from college and would not otherwise attend are able to enroll. (2) Efforts to reform financial aid must limit the unsustainable increase in college prices. (3) Financial aid at all levels--institutional, state and federal-- should be focused on those students who would not go to college without additional funding. This is the most efficient use of scarce resources. (4) The federal financial system should ensure access to higher education, not reward academic success nor attempt to steer students into certain sectors of the labor market. (5) Simplification of the process for application for aid and the process of repaying loans should be encouraged for the purposes of increased access and more efficient use of resources. An appendix provides details of the impact of proposed changes. (Contains 4 figures and 9 endnotes.) [To access the executive summary for this report, please see ED544420.]