Workforce development in the United States today is spread across higher education institutions (primarily public two-year and for-profit colleges), labor market institutions, and workplaces, with public funding from a range of sources. But outcomes for students and workers are weaker than they could be, especially among disadvantaged students and…

One sees various efforts in developed as well as in developing economies to seek a greater participation of lower-income students in their nation's leading universities. Once lower-income students do enroll in a highly selective institution, what happens to them? How well do they do academically when compared to their more wealthy counterparts?…

Recent efforts to deal with college affordability, including measures now before Congress, raise many questions: Why does college cost so much? How can students ever be expected to pay back their loan debt? Why does the middle class always get squeezed? America's historical commitment to the education of its citizens is perhaps the most important…

In his State of the Union, the President made it clear that the most important contest this country faces today is not between Democrats and Republicans, but with competitors around the world for the jobs and industries of our time. To win that contest and secure prosperity for all Americans, the nation must out-innovate, out-educate, and…

Despite federal investments in student aid--plus tax credits exceeding $70 billion and state expenditures for institutions and students exceeding $65 billion--record high financial barriers erected by recent changes in tuition and financial aid have prevented hundreds of thousands of college-qualified high school graduates from enrolling in…

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…

This analysis looks at proposals for the 1997 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. These proposals include graduation-contingent aid providing "incentives" for completion; creation of federal student aid block grants to reduce the federal government's role and provide states and institutions more flexibility in awarding student…

There is an implicit general plan currently uniting federal and state financing policies, however, it is inefficient, inequitable, and ineffective, involving obsolete state financing policies and mistaken federal responses. Implementation of another plan available would require federal intervention in state financing policies. (MLW)

Testimonies are presented from U.S. Senate hearings on the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program (Pell grant program) for the 1982-1983 academic year. The proposed schedule is tied to an expected appropriation of $2.187 billion for Pell grants for fiscal year 1982. The administration's alternative involving no statutory changes would require…

As part of a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965, testimony was heard on the Pell Grant program, the largest student grant program. Witnesses from all sectors of the postsecondary education system offered suggestions for program changes. The witnesses included the following: Robert L. Albright,…

The 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) made changes in the need analysis formulas that determine the expected family contribution (EFC) used in awarding Title IV Federal student aid, altered the definition of an independent student, lowered the family size offset for independent students without dependents, eliminated home…

Hearings on the reasons for the Pell Grant Program shortfall and possible solutions are presented. The U.S. Department of Education's estimate was for a Pell grant shortfall of $307 million for 1983-1984, which was borrowed from the fiscal year 1984 appropriations. Current funding for Pell Grants is below what is necessary because initial funding…

This Congressionally requested memorandum compares the Pell Grant provisions contained in the recent new versions proposed by the Senate and House with the current program. The first section describes the program, pointing out that students' eligibility for Pell Grants and the size of their awards depend on three factors: the amount they and their…