Federal Work-Study (FWS) funding provides opportunities for campus-based employment to students as a way to pay for their college expenses. This issue of "DataPoints" finds community colleges receive only 18 percent of Federal Work-Study funds from the $1 billion appropriated to the program.

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2015-16 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16), a nationally representative sample survey of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30,…

This report provides a detailed look at the sources and distribution of grants, loans, and other student aid for the most recent academic year and how this funding has changed over time. The federal government provided two-thirds of all student aid in 2016-17, but only one-third of the grant aid. In the context of uncertainty about the timing of…

A quality education is the primary instrument of social and economic mobility in the United States. As open-access institutions, community colleges are the gateway to postsecondary education for millions of Americans. Many of these students would be unable to afford college without federal resources, such as student financial aid and tax credits.…

Data on student aid for 2015-16 confirm that the dramatic increases in aid awarded in 2009-10 and 2010-11 were products of extreme economic circumstances, not harbingers of long-run changes in financing for postsecondary education. Both total federal education loans and federal loans per full-time equivalent (FTE) student declined for the fifth…

As the nation slowly emerges from the Great Recession, the patterns of student aid are returning to the paths they were on before the economy crashed. The federal government, which dramatically stepped up its subsidies to students in 2009-10 and 2010-11, continues to play an expanded role, but not a growing role. Students continue to borrow at…

After increasing by 18% (in inflation-adjusted dollars) between 2007-08 and 2010-11, the total amount students borrowed in federal and non-federal education loans declined by 13% between 2010-11 and 2013-14. Growth in full-time equivalent (FTE) postsecondary enrollment of 16% over the first three years, followed by a decline of 4% over the next…

Trends in Student Aid, an annual College Board publication since 1983, is a compendium of detailed, up-to-date information on the funding that is available to help students pay for college. This report documents grant aid from federal and state governments, colleges and universities, employers, and other private sources, as well as loans, tax…

Approximately 23 million students enrolled in undergraduate postsecondary education in the United States during the 2011-12 academic year (Simone et al. 2013). The Web Tables in this report provide a comprehensive source (2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study [NPSAS:12]) of information on the financial aid that was awarded to these…

Sources of funds for students at private colleges are assessed, along with major changes in student financial aid during 1979-1984, based on the Student Aid Recipient Data Bank of the National Institute of Independent Colleges and Universities. A random sample of actual student financial aid records was examined in order to show how aid is…

A study attempted to identify the college types that benefit most from federal student aid by examining how institutional quality, institutional mission, and average student costs of attendance covaried with students' average grant, loan, and work-study aid awards in 254 4-year public and 499 4-year private colleges and universities. (Author/MSE)

The impact of student financial aid policies, programs, and procedures on private college enrollment patterns is discussed. Because state subsidies to public institutions create a two-tiered pricing structure in higher education, independent institutions depend on those programs and policies that encourage college choice rather than access.…

The ways middle-income families pay for college are examined, based on a national survey of student aid recipients, especially traditional undergraduate dependent students. Information is provided on the mix between loans, grants, work, and family contribution, as well as the relationship between federal, state, and college-sponsored aid. Examples…

Questions have been raised concerning the function served by each of the federal need-based student aid programs and the relationship between them: Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG), Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), College Work-Study (CWS), and National Direct Student Loan (NDSL). Analysis of the student aid packages…

Types of student financial aid are described, and data are presented on student financial aid at Arizona postsecondary institutions for 1972-1981. In 1980-1981, 214,107 or 92.1 percent of the total students in all Arizona postsecondary institutions were surveyed. Enrollment data are presented for public universities, private four-year and graduate…