This Data Point uses data from four administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:2000, NPSAS:04, NPSAS:08, and NPSAS:12) to briefly present trends in out-of-pocket net price for college, the amount that students and their families must pay to attend college after subtracting grants, loans, work-study, and all other…

Guidelines for students seeking financial aid are provided for six federal programs. General information about seeking financial aid and rights and responsibilities of the student as consumer are outlined. The following federal aid programs are covered: the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program, the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, the…

Federal Student Aid's core mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance--grants, loans and work-study programs--for education beyond high school. The programs administered comprise the nation's largest source of student aid: during the 2005-06 school year alone, approximately $78 billion in new aid was…

A proposal to create a state-funded work-study program for California postsecondary education is presented, including guidelines for program eligibility and responsibilities. The California Postsecondary Education Commission's proposal recommends: the use of both nonprofit and profit-making organizations as potential employers; employment that is…

A series of recommendations is presented for reducing default rates in the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program. First, a summary is provided of trends toward the increasing dependence of students on loans to finance their college education and the large and growing default rate among borrowers. Next, four issues are discussed: Should lenders…