America's labor market presents a paradox. Although the unemployment rate is just 3.9%, there are more jobs open than people who can fill them. Nationwide, there are roughly 68 workers for every 100 open jobs. Many factors contribute to this workforce shortage, but one of the most significant is a growing skills gap -- millions of workers across…

This article analyzes U.S. Department of Education data on appropriations on Pell Grants using the new Mission-Driven Classification (MDC) to disaggregate enrollment, finance, and need-based Pell Grant data by major public higher education sector and, within community colleges, by geography (rural, suburban, and urban) as well as by the presence…

The annual Performance Accountability Report (PAR) serves as an important mechanism by which public colleges and universities in Maryland are held accountable. Through a performance accountability plan, institutions are required to establish and maintain performance standards, and use metrics to assess their effectiveness in tackling institutional…

Undergraduate education is a highly profitable business for nonprofit colleges and universities. They do not show profits on their books, but instead take their profits in the form of spending on some combination of research, graduate education, low-demand majors, low faculty teaching loads, excess compensation, and featherbedding. The industry's…

In higher education, three generally recognized rationales for federal involvement in financial aid exist: (1) Promoting equality of opportunity: Those from poor households are less likely to attend college for a variety of reasons; (2) Credit market imperfections: Students may not have access to the credit needed to make profitable investments in…

Used 23 years of federal, state, and institutional student-aid data to investigate the effects of federal grants to students on the behavior of higher education institutions. Pell grants, exemplifying "redivision federalism," appear highly fungible and inversely related to institutional grants to students, while campus-based federal…

The United States no longer leads the world in college completion rates. Inequality in college access rates by income have barely narrowed over the last 25 to 30 years and inequality in college completion rates have narrowed even less. The groups in the population that are growing the most rapidly are those that have historically been…

As Congress debates the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), it should heed Friedrich Hayek's warning that democracy is "peculiarly liable, if not guided by accepted common principles, to produce over-all results that nobody wanted." One result of the federal government's student financial aid programs is higher tuition…

This book examines the failure of government efforts to keep college affordable as the real price of higher education has increased rapidly in recent years. Chapter 1 reviews the benefits resulting from a college education. Chapter 2 examines the forces causing college price increases since 1980. Chapter 3 shows the differential impact that…

A study was done to investigate whether Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) were being awarded to students with the lowest expected family contribution (EFC). The study used data from a 1991 Department of Education study based on a sample of 25,000 undergraduate students drawn from over 1,100 postsecondary institutions across the…

The administration of the Pell Grant program by proprietary schools was assessed with a randomly selected sample of 35 schools from a universe of 1,165 schools. In addition to evaluating records of 761 students, officials who administered the program were interviewed. The following practices by schools did not comply with the Pell program…

Federal aid is seen as not only essential to many college students but also as a mainstay of U.S. economic growth and social progress. The reauthorization of the Higher Education Act represents the best chance for reform, and Congress needs to do more than ratify existing programs. (MLW)

This guide is intended to assist institutions of higher education as they evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of their administration of financial aid programs and compliance with federal laws and regulations, especially Title IV of the Higher Education Act. The guide goes beyond federal requirements to include other good administrative…

This workbook for financial aid administrators was intended for use at a four-day workshop and provides information and detailed instructions on how to apply for and document applications for student financial assistance. Each section first outlines some basic rules and timetables and then uses a questions-and-answer format and sample documents to…

This workbook for financial aid administrators was intended for use at a 4-day workshop and provides information and detailed instructions on how to apply for and document applications for student financial assistance. Each section first outlines some basic rules and timetables, then uses a question-and-answer format and sample documents to guide…