This longitudinal study evaluated the efficacy of a summer bridge program (SBP) and other support services on college graduation rates at a small liberal arts school in Purchase, NY. Financially disadvantaged students (n = 136) receiving a scholarship and a summer bridge curriculum within the Manhattanville Achievement Program were compared to…

In August 2015, the U.S. Department of Education announced an experimental program that would allow higher education institutions to offer postsecondary educational programs inside adult prisons. The U.S. Department of Education's Second Chance Pell Grant Experimental Sites Initiative would allow state and federal incarcerated students to apply…

"January Undergraduate Move Ahead Program" (JUMP) uses winter break as an opportunity to prepare small groups of scholarship students with high financial need for the second semester of their first-year biology curriculum and a career in life science. A winter intersession program has challenges, but more importantly, benefits that…

Some assert that first-year college programs can foster increased engagement among college students and lead to successful outcomes, but there is a lack of in-depth analysis of students' perceptions of their experiences in such programs. This qualitative study explores a small sample of young, Pell Grant-eligible Latino male students' perceptions…

Recognizing the changing demographics of students applying to college coupled with Trinity University's responsibility to help our students succeed, we have created a Summer Bridge program that focuses on first-generation, underrepresented students (FGUS). Trinity's Summer Bridge program has been a success--both in terms of student performance and…

The market-based funding model more commonly known as direct student aid, which was adopted by the federal government during the late 1960s and early 1970s, has created a series of unintended consequences that threaten educational equity and the future of public higher education. The economic and societal impacts of the privatization of US public…

In recent decades, several dozen colleges and universities have instituted loan-reduction initiatives (LRIs), such as "no-loan" programs. Institutions frequently cast such initiatives as efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity on campus. Using a difference-in-differences analytic strategy with national institution-level data, we…

In Fall 2022, the U.S. Education Department unveiled a drastic overhaul of federal student loan policies. The new rules serve as a key vehicle to advance the Biden administration's higher education agenda. However, some of the final regulations look quite different from the policy proposals initially outlined in President Joe Biden's campaign…

Created in 1972, the Pell Grant program awards grants to low-income students to help pay for whatever accredited U.S. college they choose. Totaling $28.4 billion in 2019-20, the program is the most significant source of federal student aid for college. However, as the program turns 50 this year, many advocates are hoping to expand its reach and…

We quantify the total stock of balances eligible for the Biden administration's 2022 student loan forgiveness proposal and examine which groups would have benefited most. Up to $442 billion in loans were eligible. Those who would have benefited most were younger, had lower credit scores, and lived in lower- and middle-income neighborhoods. We also…

Many students work during college to offset rising costs, but significant time on the job affects postsecondary outcomes. Analyzing the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 4,418), this article estimates the effects of hours worked on grades, credits earned, persistence, stopping out (i.e., unenrolling for 5 months before reenrolling), and dropping…

This study examines U.S. national colleges and universities that have de-emphasized or eliminated ACT and SAT scores and have implemented test-optional policies for undergraduate admissions. The study investigates the test-optional admissions trend and provides a "pre-post" quantitative analysis of test-optional policy effects on the…

Certain statewide promise programs require students to demonstrate financial need, while state performance funding policies sometimes incorporate a financial bonus that incentivizes colleges to enroll or graduate low-income students. We use data on public, 4-year colleges from 2007-2008 to 2019-2020, and incorporate difference-in-differences…

Federal second chance Pell grants were recently made widely available to incarcerated students in the United States to fund undergraduate education. Piedmont Virginia Community College was a pilot site for this expansion and began full scale implementation of transfer-oriented associate degrees at three correctional centers in its service area.…

This article provides remarks delivered by Gen. Mark Brown, Chief Operating Officer for Federal Student Aid on September 19, 2019 at the 2019 National College Access Network (NCAN) Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Gen. Brown granted JCA permission to reprint his remarks.