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…

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…

Grant aid reduces the financial burden of human capital investment in postsecondary education. Theory suggests grant aid should substitute for other financial resources such as borrowing and labor market participation. Although studies have individually examined the impact of grant aid on hours of paid work and on borrowing for education, students…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an important tool to help students find financial assistance. Not only do students fill out the FAFSA to apply for federal aid for post-secondary education, but also to be considered for aid by states, institutions, and private funders. Thus, filling out the FAFSA, specifically, and applying…

Since 2008, Sallie Mae has surveyed American families with an undergraduate student about their attitudes toward college and how they paid for it. For the past ten years, the "How America Pays for College" research has provided insight regarding families' belief in the value of a college education, how they are making college more…

This study of the financial circumstances of students at Australian Universities is being undertaken by the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (MCSHE) at the University of Melbourne for Universities Australia, which has funded the study. Universities Australia is the peak body for Australia's universities. The purpose of the…

"How America Pays for College", introduced in 2008, is a Sallie Mae national study conducted by Ipsos that annually surveys undergraduate students and parents of undergraduates about how much they pay for college and the resources they use to fund the expense. Now in its tenth year, this study also asks families about their attitudes…

Between 1995-96 and 2011-12, the number of undergraduates attending postsecondary institutions in the United States increased from nearly 17 million to 23 million. The web tables presented in this report provide a comprehensive look over a 16-year period at the trends in how undergraduates enrolled in U.S. postsecondary institutions finance their…

The designation "low income" is often assigned to students who are Federal Pell Grant eligible; however, family incomes for these recipients range from $0 to as high as $60,000 (Baum & Payea, 2011). Over 93% of all zero expected family contribution (EFC) students have a family income of $30,000 or less and constituted 67.4% of all…

Evidence shows that parental financial investments increase college attendance, but we know little about how these investments shape postsecondary achievement. Two theoretical frameworks suggest diametric conclusions. Some studies operate from a more-is-more perspective in which children use calculated parental allocations to make academic…

The Federal Pell Grant Program, which provides need-based grants to millions of college students, is the federal government's largest education expenditure. It consumes over half the Department of Education's annual budget and in 2010-2011 cost taxpayers about $36 billion per year. Although the program started out as a way to provide college…

This report discusses the ability of specific policy options in strengthening the Pell Grant program to meet the significant financial needs of low-income students. These policy options include: (1) raising the appropriated maximum Pell Grant award; (2) raising both the minimum and appropriated maximum Pell Grant awards; and (3) adjusting federal…

National survey data concerning extent and sources of parental financial support for college expenses reveal that support takes the form of both money, primarily from current income, and goods and services and represents intergenerational transfer of resources. Patterns in marital status and other student characteristics from the survey are…

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the parental role in higher education. It is on various data sources, including a nationally representative survey of 750 parents of current college students. The report addresses issues ranging from selecting an institution, to paying tuition, to patterns of saving and borrowing, to the demographic…

A survey of 1,720 second-year undergraduates at the University of Brighton (England) gathered basic demographic information and data on their financial status, including the form(s) of student financial aid applied for and awarded, parent contributions and other income sources, housing, transportation, and school and other costs. (MSE)