Last November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the administration could rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), with the fate of over 650,000 DACA recipients in the balance. Under federal law, DACA recipients cannot access federal financial aid, so most rely on a mix of private scholarships, state or institutional…

College affordability has been an urgent concern in the context of Texas higher education. In September 2003, the Texas Legislature passed HB 3015 (2003) to allow governing boards of public universities to set different designated tuition rates, with no upper limit. As a result, tuition at four-year colleges and universities in Texas has…

Higher education and America stand at a perilous moment brought about by economic and social inequality, racism, and the fracture of civic cohesion and structures. From its origins, the mission of American higher education was to promote democratic governance and a free, fair, and orderly society through the education of responsible citizens. Just…

What are the experiences, expectations, and challenges of college-bound high school students and their families regarding college financing? To answer that question, Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL), Ardeo Education, and PLEXUSS surveyed 1,250 high school students from the 11th and 12th grades about how they become interested in colleges and…

Americans think higher education can help people economically, particularly in their home states, according to this Public Agenda/USA TODAY Hidden Common Ground (HCG) research. But by a variety of measures, Americans question whether the benefits of college are worth the cost. This report summarizes findings from a nationally representative survey…

The data provided in this issue of "DataPoints" (examining the percent of public two-year college students receiving select aid types between academic years 2003-04 and 2015-16) shows that community college students were more likely to receive federal aid immediately following the Great Recession.

With one million defaults on student loans every year, and $1.6 trillion in outstanding student debt, it's clear the US is in desperate need of innovative funding models in higher education. Income Share Agreements, or ISAs, stand to provide a promising alternative to high-risk student loans, as they better align the interests of students,…

Young people with foster care history need financial support to attain their educational goals. Are these young people getting the financial support they need for college? How do their financial aid packages compare with those of their peers? Does the Education and Training Voucher program meet their needs? If not, how can it be improved? To…

Graduate programs in medicine and biomedical sciences have been severely impacted by the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic over the last 2 years. Following 2 years since beginning of the pandemic, data on student support, educational and academic performance as well as sentiment on changes to educational programs are starting to emerge. We performed…

Most, but not all school psychology internships in the United States include an intern stipend (Prus et al., 2014). Such financial support for this stage of graduate preparation is critical, especially considering the increasing loan debt incurred by graduate students and imitations in earning power (i.e., opportunity cost) during what is usually…

The purpose of this study is to outline a new approach to the comparative analysis of student finance systems based on social rights, an approach widely applied in other areas of social policy. It focuses on rights codified in national legislation and financed by central governments, and the collection of indicators measuring formal eligibility…

Recent efforts to increase college access and completion concentrate on reducing tuition rates at community colleges, but researchers and policy makers alike have expressed concern that such reductions may not lead to long-term gains in college completion. In this paper, I use detailed data on students' college enrollment and completion outcomes…

This study examined predictors of three measures of financial well-being in 354 college students. Results suggest that perceptions of debt are important in understanding financial well-being, but these perceptions need to be considered alongside of individual differences in anxiety, optimism, and parental teaching. Further, regression analyses…

Universities can help level up by boosting earnings, transforming towns and delivering vocational and technical education. They fulfil the aspirations of many young people. In this paper, David Willetts explores how to boost participation in higher education while cutting public spending. He argues it is reasonable to expect graduates to pay for…

The COVID pandemic created an unprecedented crisis for students and their families. Parents saw most of their college-enrolled children switch to hybrid or fully online learning. Student and family engagement became almost exclusively electronic and online. And the economic fallout of the pandemic impacted the ability of students and families to…