America's financial-aid system has become almost impossible to navigate and burdensome for those who need it most. Tuition and fees are skyrocketing, forcing almost half of college-going students to borrow. Low and middle-income students are taking on frightening levels of debt. Bachelor's degree recipients leave school with an average of $26,600…

America's college financial-aid system has helped millions of students obtain a postsecondary education, but the system's flaws are increasingly apparent. Growth in tuition and fees outpace available resources, particularly for students striving to rise out of poverty. Low- and middle-income students confront frightening levels of education debt.…

When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in 2002, the U.S. national high school graduation rate was 72.6 percent. Today, the national high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 81 percent and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools has declined considerably. While this progress is notable,…

The issue: tuition aid for middle-income families with children in college. Considers the President's proposal, an automatic $250-a-year grant for college students from families with an annual income of $16,000 to $25,000 and the expansion of the Guaranteed Student Loan program, and also the plans of Senators Robert Packwood and Daniel Moynihan as…

The federal Hope Scholarship program, designed as a middle-class tax break, required substantial negotiation and diverse, often conflicting tactics to become policy. The story of the idea's creation and its journey to policy, based on interviews with over three dozen college officials, Clinton administration aides, lawmakers, and others is…

The background papers contained in this document present preliminary recommendations intended to stimulate discussion of issues to be addressed in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which since 1965 has delineated federal policies and programs governing student aid and categorical assistance to colleges and universities. The papers…

Three decades after massive government commitment to financial aid, minority and low income access is declining and aid going to middle class students. Policies and political deadlock have worsened the situation of those in need, and hard choices must be made if college access is to be restored without greater expenditures. (SK)

The current system of financial aid is reviewed. It is noted that higher education is now more accessible to more people, but at a great cost in terms of both money and values, since the middle class is reluctant to make financial sacrifices for its children. Specific grant and loan programs are reported. (LBH)

Over the last century, Americans have formed a social contract with higher education through the development of and changes to student financial aid programs. These federal, state, and institutional programs are the manifestation of the value we place on who should and who does pay the costs of higher education. Grants versus loans and low-income…

The issues, problems, and prospects of federal student aid are addressed in three papers and an introduction. In the introduction, David W. Breneman considers implications of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act and developments that raise questions about the foundation of student aid programs. In "Why Strains on Need-Based Financial Aid…

The task of designing future postsecondary education policy in fiscal year 1981 is discussed in relation to two unique conditions. First, the federal role as a provider of student assistance was increased dramatically in 1978 by passage of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act, and the full costs of implementing MISAA are coming due. Second,…

The Republican proposal to cut the federal student loan program is examined, and some of the other challenges and changes likely to be faced by higher education due to Republican politics are outlined, including appropriations for discretionary programs, welfare and immigration reform, social and economic policy issues affecting the middle class,…