Only 60 percent of students in post-secondary education in the United States graduate within six years of enrollment. Some minority and disadvantaged students graduate at significantly lower rates. As Congress considers reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, some consideration is being given to promoting greater use of evidence-based programs and…

In his State of the Union, the President made it clear that the most important contest this country faces today is not between Democrats and Republicans, but with competitors around the world for the jobs and industries of our time. To win that contest and secure prosperity for all Americans, the nation must out-innovate, out-educate, and…

Due to the increasing complexity in the financial aid process and the movement of available financial aid up the economic scale, poor people and minorities have less access to college, including engineering programs. Some impediments are lack of access to knowledge about college, increasing complexity and up-front costs in the application process…

This analysis looks at proposals for the 1997 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. These proposals include graduation-contingent aid providing "incentives" for completion; creation of federal student aid block grants to reduce the federal government's role and provide states and institutions more flexibility in awarding student…

As part of a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, testimony was heard on the Pell Grant program, the largest student grant program. Witnesses from all sectors of the postsecondary education system offered suggestions for program changes. The witnesses included the following: Robert L. Albright,…

The 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) made changes in the need analysis formulas that determine the expected family contribution (EFC) used in awarding Title IV Federal student aid, altered the definition of an independent student, lowered the family size offset for independent students without dependents, eliminated home…

More than $25 billion in financial aid in 1988 is awarded annually to students attending postsecondary education. The aid covers about the same percentage of college costs that it did in 1970, but the impact of veterans' education benefits and social security benefits is no longer significant, and loans now make up one-half the total aid, having…

As entitlements for students, "Average Daily Attendance" funding (ADA), Title I and Pell Grants can provide a stable funding base to support college bridge programs targeted to at-risk students and dropouts. In most states, school districts can re-enroll out-of-school students and draw additional ADA money from the state. College bridge…