Students' access to family help with paying for college tuition and living expenses varies by family resources, structures, and relationships, and can affect later outcomes and the extent to which students rely on various forms of financial aid. This study analyzes an originally collected dataset at two regional public four-year universities in…

Eligibility for many federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs is determined by the expected family contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which functions as a tool to ration scarce aid dollars. The lowest possible EFC under current rules is zero, but this obscures a wider distribution of…

Parent PLUS loans are a growing concern due to their limited income-driven repayment protections and their potential to maintain longstanding racial wealth gaps. Previous research has examined factors associated with student debt burdens of college graduates, but no research has examined factors related to parent borrowing for college. In this…

This study provides new insight into enrollment disparities by examining how the financial support adolescents expect to receive from parents as they transition to young adulthood differs by parent and family characteristics and whether they attend college. I do this by estimating expectations of cash and in-kind co-residency support in the year…

A common misperception suggests that a high-achieving student can easily complete a degree with very limited debt, and that students with high levels of debt are thus underachievers. This assumption is supported by memories of previous decades when it was realistically possible for most students to work their way through college. This view,…

In examining national data on Federal Pell Grant eligibility in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), we were puzzled to discover that many students who appear to have eligible Expected Family Contributions (EFCs) do not receive the award. We use institutional data from a large public university to understand and enumerate changes…

In this paper, we leverage detailed, individual-level student data to understand the relationships between family finances, merit-based aid, and first-year student retention. With three cohorts of student data that comprise family financial status, institutional merit scholarships, and many of the other known correlates of student retention, we…

We analyze changes in financial aid and student enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that occurred after the U.S. Department of Education increased the credit history requirements necessary to obtain Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS). We use institution-level data to examine financial aid and enrollment…

Access to financial aid is dependent on a variety of factors, including the time of application; the earlier students apply for financial aid, the greater their access to institutional and often state resources. We use the Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) as a case for investigating the economic, social, and academic factors that affect…

Recent studies have questioned the wisdom in blaming college costs for the escalation of student loans. It would appear that less affluent students borrow large amounts because inexpensive subsidized loans are available. This study attempted to verify the claim, estimating a model of the amount of loan received by students as a function of net…

The current status of college savings and tuition prepayment plans is examined, and the advantages and disadvantages of state and national program options are reviewed. The financial aid community's ability to support a national savings plan is discussed. (Author/MSE)

Four general "fairness criteria" are presented for evaluating student financial aid award rules. Application to current Pell Grant rules indicated violation of two of the criteria. Recommendations include replacing the "percent-of-cost" rule with a "percent-of-need" standard, developing a broader class of rules, and…

Families need assistance in planning for the costs of higher education. Some suggestions are offered, including question the premise that parents will finance one year's education out of one year's income; create a national college savings plan, etc. (MLW)

A study of parent contributions to dependent student's college costs in 1983 and 1987 found that contributions have increased significantly in general and for the $40,000-50,000 income group in particular. (Author/MSE)

A study to determine the number of dependent students making changes on parental adjusted gross income during the verification process is discussed. The study defined the number of dependent students who had a change in their Student Aid Index as a result of validation. (MLW)