After decades of frustration with increasingly complex college financial aid policies, a nationwide shift toward "free college" programs has gained momentum. New York State joined the free college movement in 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his goal to make public higher education tuition-free for most students during his…

The increasing tension between the perceived necessity of a college degree and the challenge of paying for it has led to a proliferation of financial aid policy in the U.S. and around the world. More students are receiving more aid today, and more different types of aid, than ever before. Half a century of policy experimentation has led to an…

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the nation's largest need-based grant program. While students' initial eligibility for the Pell is based on financial need, renewal is contingent on meeting minimum academic standards similar to those in models of performance-based scholarships, including a grade point average (GPA) requirement and ratio of…

College attendance is a risky investment. But students may not recognize when they are at risk for failure, and financial aid introduces the possibility for moral hazard. Academic performance standards can serve three roles in this context: signaling expectations for success, providing incentives for increased student effort, and limiting…

In this article, we examine the effects of receiving a modest Pell Grant on financial aid packages, labor supply while in school, and academic outcomes for community college students. Using administrative data from one state, we compare students just above and below the expected family contribution cutoff for receiving a Pell Grant. We find that…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

The Federal Work-Study program was introduced as part of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, with the goal of enabling low-income students to work their way through college. It is thus one of the earliest forms of federal financial aid for college, pre-dating both Pell Grants and Stafford Loans. Since its inception, FWS has provided institutions…

College attendance is a risky investment. But students may not recognize when they are at risk for failure, and financial aid introduces the possibility for moral hazard. Academic performance standards can serve three roles in this context: signaling expectations for success, providing incentives for increased student effort, and limiting…

In this paper, we examine the effects of receiving a modest Pell Grant on financial aid packages, labor supply while in school, and academic outcomes for community college students. Using administrative data from one state, we compare community college students just above and below the expected family contribution (EFC) cutoff for receiving a Pell…

This document was designed as a companion to the full report entitled "The Impact of Pell Grant Eligibility on Community College Students' Financial Aid Packages, Labor Supply, and Academic Outcomes." Provided here are the appendices to the full report as follows: (1) Methods for Choosing Optimal Bandwidths; (2) Gerard, Rokkanen, and…

Socioeconomic gaps in college enrollment and attainment have widened over time, despite increasing returns to postsecondary education and significant policy efforts to improve access. We describe the barriers that students face during the transition to college and review the evidence on potential policy solutions. We focus primarily on research…

Satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements have existed in some form in the federal student aid programs for nearly 40 years--and have become increasingly strict--yet only limited research exists regarding their motivations and consequences. In this brief, the authors discuss two recent CAPSEE studies they conducted that examine the…

One justification for public support of higher education is that prospective students, particularly those from underprivileged groups, lack complete information about the costs and benefits of a college degree. Beyond financial considerations, students may also lack information about what they need to do academically to prepare for and…

The Federal Pell Grant Program is the nation's largest need-based grant program. While students' initial eligibility for the Pell is based on financial need, renewal of the award is contingent on their making satisfactory academic progress (SAP)--meeting minimum academic standards similar to those proposed in models of performance-based…

Since 1964, the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program has provided funds to subsidize the wages of student employees, but it has never been studied directly. I use an instrumental variables difference-in-difference framework with administrative data from West Virginia to identify causal effects, comparing eligible and ineligible students across…