This report, the first in a series on student financial aid, develops a public policy justification for needs-tested higher educational subsidies targeted specifically to students, and offers evidence to support the argument that financial aid is a worthwhile use of public monies. Traditionally, public subsidies for students have been directed to…

Since 1978, when the Middle Income Student Assistance Act was passed, federal, state, and institutional student financial aid developments have consistently expanded programs, eligibility, and benefits for students from middle and affluent family income backgrounds. Poverty-level students have experienced substantial declines in gift aid and…

This document, the fourth in a series of student financial aid research reports, focuses on need analysis in student financial aid. Nearly all of the family contribution expected by the analysis of ability to pay is produced by family income, and the Congressional Methodology implemented for the 1988-89 academic year places even greater emphasis…

This document, the third in a series of research reports on student financial aid, examines attitudes of Americans toward borrowing to finance educational expenses between 1959 and 1983. The impetus for the study was interest in the effects of the Federal Government's shift in student aid emphasis from grants to loans during this period. The study…

The way in which costs enter the potential college student's calculation of the benefits of college attendance is examined. In particular, the paper considers how costs not considered in financial aid need analysis can increase college attendance costs and thereby decrease net benefits of college attendance for those who use financial aid. The…