This digest presents a summary of historical and contemporary community college funding sources and challenges. It identifies four main categories of funding: (1) state and local appropriations; (2) tuition; (3) federal funds, grants, and contracts; and (4) endowments. The discussion of state funding covers lump sum appropriations, funding…

This digest examines the various financial sources minority students use to meet the costs of higher education, some of which were created with the specific goal of promoting their college attendance. Sources include federal student loans, pre-college programs and grants, college prepaid plans, and student credit cards. Policy recommendations to…

Despite 1983 Elementary and Secondary Education ACT (ESEA) Title I federal funding of over $255 million for more than 3,000 projects for some 600,000 migrant children and youth, there is still need for alternate funding sources to overcome spiraling inflation and increasing program costs and numbers of eligible children. Other federal, state,…

As college costs continue to soar, families across America are confronting a financial burden they find difficult if not impossible to manage alone. Existing programs like student loans are unable to address a problem of this scope. The search for a method to encourage savings for college without drawing on limited public resources has led to a…

This brief report summarizes a longer document with the same title. It reviews the need to better manage higher education expenses in light of budget cuts and reductions in appropriations and other public services. It is noted that tuition, although increasing, has been increasing at a slower rate since 1981. Also, faculty salaries have not…

The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act mandates that schools receiving federal funding must desegregate their student performance data by race, gender, and socioeconomic status in order to provide progress information to the community and state. Data-driven decision making is particularly important in urban schools…

Nontraditional students are the fastest-growing segment of the postsecondary population. About 41% of students are over 25, and nearly 12% are over 40. Previously, the bulk of financial aid went to traditional-age, usually full-time, students in degree programs. Today, however, the sheer numbers of nontraditional students, including distance…

This ERIC digest synthesizes research characterizing the economic climate in which rural schools operate and reports on the traditional strategies used to create greater economic support for rural school districts. The benefits of steady urban economic growth have not been shared, generally, by rural areas; this has led to inadequate financial…