Given the major investment in the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant, rising postsecondary access, trends in poor persistence and retention rates, and the ongoing accountability measures in higher education, it is critical to examine factors related to postsecondary performance and persistence of GEAR…

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…

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…

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…

This paper presents a WWC (What Works Clearinghouse) Quick Review of the report "The Role of Simplification and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment". The study examined whether assistance in filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) increases the likelihood of filing…

"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…

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study collected data for sample students from registrar and financial aid offices at postsecondary institutions. The data were collected for students enrolled in a postsecondary institution in fall 1986. Since substantial numbers of students are not enrolled in fall and are therefore not represented in the…

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…

The aggregate financing of student aid by the federal government, state governments, and institutions over the past 25 years is discussed. Trends in the composition of aid delivered (grants, loans, and work study) are described. Over time comparisons in the numbers of recipients and aid per recipient are given by programs. (Author/MLW)

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…

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…

The impact of student aid policies on women is assessed. Differences in the conditions affecting men's and women's need for aid are identified, along with actions that could improve women's participation in student aid programs. Gender issues in student aid policy include: loan burden, default, and bankruptcy; the award of merit scholarships;…