While the Pell Grant covers a substantial proportion of college tuition for low-income students, it has covered only two full-time semesters per year and has not included any support for summer courses through most of its history. As research has shown that continuous enrollment throughout the year increases college persistence and completion, the…

Credit hour policies, or performance-based financial aid policies, have become increasingly popular among policymakers seeking to improve degree completion rates. In the Unites States, the college completion agenda has been bolstered by national calls from intermediary organizations and philanthropic foundations alike to raise the overall rate and…

The designation "low income" is often assigned to students who are Federal Pell Grant eligible; however, family incomes for these recipients range from $0 to as high as $60,000 (Baum & Payea, 2011). Over 93% of all zero expected family contribution (EFC) students have a family income of $30,000 or less and constituted 67.4% of all…

This 2017 student affordability report looks at the following numerical data for higher education in the state of North Dakota: (1) Tuition, Mandatory Fees, Room and Board; (2) Total Estimated Student Cost; (3) Federal Funding Sources; (4) Net Price; (5) Loan Volume and Indebtedness; and (6) Percent of Students with Aid. The 2016-17 tuition and…

For the institution and its regional campuses under review, the amount of outstanding student liabilities (i.e., monies owed by the student to the institution for educational-related expenditures not satisfied by the end of the term) grew at an alarming rate between 2000 and 2014, with some of the institution's regional campuses experiencing over…

Since 1964, the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program has provided funds to subsidize the wages of student employees, but it has never been studied directly. I use an instrumental variables difference-in-difference framework with administrative data from West Virginia to identify causal effects, comparing eligible and ineligible students across…

Learning assistant (LA) programs have been implemented at a range of institutions, usually as part of a comprehensive curricular transformation accompanied by a pedagogical switch to active learning. While this shift in pedagogy has led to increased student learning gains, the positive effect of LAs has not yet been distinguished from that of…

"Data Notes" is a bimonthly publication that examines data to illuminate the challenges facing Achieving the Dream colleges and to chart their progress over time. Gateway courses generally include the first college-level English and math courses students are required to take. Increasing the number of students who attempt gateway classes…

In this study, the authors examined the impact of two interventions related to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on postsecondary outcomes of low- to moderate-income individuals. The two interventions were included: (1) providing an estimate of need-based aid compared against tuition costs for nearby colleges and assistance in…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue looks at changes in cohort composition. The analysis addresses the changing composition of the Achieving the Dream student cohorts from 2002 to 2005. The data show that at Achieving the Dream colleges, the percentage of Hispanic students increased over the four cohorts…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community College Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the first of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of late stop-outs--students who accumulate at least 30 credits within the first two years, only to stop out without completing credentials or transferring. Seventy-five percent of…

Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

A reference guide to federal student assistance programs is presented with a description and history of funding provided for each. For most programs, there is an analysis of the distribution of funding by sector, type of institution, and state. Information is also included on sources of revenue for public and private colleges and universities,…

This Congressionally requested memorandum compares the Pell Grant provisions contained in the recent new versions proposed by the Senate and House with the current program. The first section describes the program, pointing out that students' eligibility for Pell Grants and the size of their awards depend on three factors: the amount they and their…

In 2006-07, the federal government awarded over $13 billion in Pell Grants to more than 5 million undergraduate students (U.S. Department of Education 2007). The goal of the Pell Grant program is to help students with financial need enroll in and graduate from college by providing them with a basic foundation of financial aid, to which they may…