As debate continues over who should get what kinds of aid to attend college, it is important to know what students and their families are actually paying for college, where the money is coming from, and how students' methods of paying vary with their family income and the type of institution they attend. To inform these debates, this report uses…

This report describes the role of parents in providing financial support for their financially dependent undergraduate children. It presents information on the extent to which parents provide their children with gifts, loans, and in-kind contributions; the amounts they provide; how the amounts compare with the expected family contributions…

This report uses data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study and the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study to examine how low income undergraduates (with family incomes below 125 percent of the federally established poverty threshold) finance their postsecondary education, focusing on the importance of financial aid. The…

This report profiles graduate and first-professional students enrolled in postsecondary institutions in 1989-90 and describes their education expenses, the sources and types of financial aid they received, the composition of their aid awards, and the availability of other sources of financial support, such as their own and spouse's earnings and…