America's regional public universities (RPUs) serve a unique role as the portal through which so many students and the nation's future workforce gain the skills needed to face the economic challenges of the 21st century. RPU programs offer 4.9 million students, who are increasingly of color, low income, first generation, and working adults, the…

The COVID-19 health crisis has laid bare the structural inequity in the financial aid system. The pandemic has hit the lowest-income students hardest, with many struggling to afford the basic technology for online learning on top of new or exacerbated food and housing insecurity. Federal and state dollars predicated on Pell Grant eligibility, time…