This study describes students' experiences applying for and maintaining financial aid at a community college in Southern California. Through individual interviews and focus groups, we examined the interaction points between students, institutional actors, institutional policies, and state/federal policies. We theorize that interactions between…

Decades of research has suggested that completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can be a complex, difficult process for postsecondary students and their support networks. However, no extant research has informed federal student aid practitioners and researchers as to what federal student aid jargon terms institutions of…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Education have taken some steps to connect college students with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to help them pay for food, but gaps in planning and execution remain. Effective July 2024, a new law gave Education authority to share students' Free Application…

This mixed research study focused on the selection criterion and guidelines used by the Higher Education Students Financing Board (HESFB) in granting students loan scheme to University Students in Uganda with a sample from Makerere University. Findings revealed that the majority of the loan beneficiaries are aware of these guidelines and one to…

Despite substantial investments in financial aid programs, the available aid often falls short of covering the total cost of attendance (Hanson, 2023). Today, college expenses represent 30% of the annual median family income, pushing many students to rely on loans to finance their education (US Census Bureau, 2023). Among student loan borrowers,…

Despite high prices, many college students do not re-file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or file late, making college less affordable. Low-cost technological interventions delivering personalized information and/or advising may improve refiling and academic outcomes, but questions remain regarding the efficacy of this…

For decades, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms were processed electronically by the legacy Central Processing System. In 2021 the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) initiated a system development effort and in December 2023 deployed a new system to process forms for the 2024-2025 school year. However, student aid…

Undocumented immigrants face learning, compliance, and psychological costs when confronting in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policy implementation. Building on administrative burdens scholarship and using qualitative data from 19 semi-structured interviews with undocumented youth immigrants, this article examines administrative burdens that may…

Approximately 43 million Americans collectively owe $1.5 trillion in federal student loan debt, but students aren't the only ones drowning in student debt. Increasingly, parents, particularly Black parents, are taking out Parent PLUS (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students) loans and putting off retirement to help their children pay for college.…

This hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions examines reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, focusing on simplifying the free application for federal student aid and reducing the burden of verification. The following opening statements were presented: (1) Honorable Lamar Alexander, Chairman, Committee on Health,…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the entry ramp to federal grants and loans that many students depend on to afford college. Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020 in part to make it easier to apply for federal aid. However, Education's rollout of the new FAFSA has suffered from numerous challenges and delays.…

Generally, need-based financial aid improves students' academic outcomes (Nguyen, Kramer & Evans, 2019). However, the largest source of need-based grant aid in the United States, the Federal Pell Grant Program (Pell), has a mixed evaluation record (Bettinger, 2004; Rubin, 2011; Marx & Turner, 2018; Park & Scott-Clayton, 2018;…

This paper describes results of a 2023 survey of authors who applied to University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Open Article Fund, a fund that supports article processing charges (APCs). The survey sought feedback about the fund's impact, value, and award criteria as well as opinions on other open access topics. Results show that the fund has had a…

For 16 years, Sallie Mae has surveyed college students and parents of undergraduate students about their attitudes toward higher education and how they're paying for it. This year's report explores education funding sources--from family income and savings to scholarships, grants, and borrowed funds--and evaluates trends in payment strategies over…

Despite Hispanic-serving institutions' (HSIs) growing number and ongoing institutional diversification, appropriations to Title V, capacity-building grants, has plateaued. Considering these trends, we constructed a unique dataset of Title V non-applicants, applicants, and recipients from 2009-2017 to examine how equitably these federal funds were…