Using the 2007-2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, this study tested positively the hypothesis that college students are either likely to acquire debt above the national median or work more than 30 hours a week in order to graduate from a four year degree within six years. These results resonate with the theory of academic capitalism,…

From 2000-2001 to 2010-2011, the total amount of federal financial aid awarded to students under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) jumped from $64.0 billion to an estimated $169.1 billion, a 10-year increase of 164%. For 2010-2011, the Title IV programs accounted for 72% of the $235 billion in total financial aid received by college…

The rise in student loan debt has directed critical attention to the growing pace of college costs as well as the reliance on loans to finance those costs. For graduates entering the workforce in recent years, many are finding that they are unable to find the type of job they thought they were securing when they received their degree, if they are…

Sallie Mae has conducted "How America Pays for College" annually since 2008, providing information about the resources American families invest in an undergraduate college education. This study focuses particularly on the planning and payment behaviors in a given academic year. Now in its fifth year, the study allows tracking over time of changes…

The American student-aid system has long been based on a tacit promise to provide students with the means to complete their college education and ensure that money is not a barrier to getting a degree. Unfortunately, says the writer, student aid has become little more than a marketing mechanism that permits colleges to maximize tuition dollars…

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) requires that Title IV degree-granting institutions disclose annually the graduation rates of first-time, full-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students, disaggregated by gender, each major racial/ethnic subgroup, and receipt or non-receipt of a federal Pell grant or subsidized…

This work brings forward the geographically-based classification scheme for the public Master's Colleges and Universities sector. Using the same methodology developed by Katsinas and Hardy (2005) to classify community colleges, this work classifies Master's Colleges and Universities. This work has four major findings and conclusions. First, a…

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of over 85 national education associations and institutions from preschool to postgraduate education, applauds President Obama's Fiscal Year 2012 budget for recognizing the importance of investing in education to our nation's economic growth and competitiveness. Within a constrained fiscal…

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of over 90 national education associations and institutions from preschool to postgraduate education, applauds President Obama's Fiscal Year 2013 budget for prioritizing investment in education as a proven strategy to increase jobs and improve our nation's economic growth and competitiveness.…

Tuition fees and the use of student loans to complement government's allocations have become unavoidable because of increasing competing new priorities for funding. This article addresses the funding sources of public higher education through tuition and loans. We explore the effects of shifts from first-stream income (government appropriations)…

This Statistics in Brief examines three cohorts of recent college graduates 1 year after they attained their bachelor's degree. The graduation years for the three cohorts span a 15-year period: 1992-93, 1999-2000, and 2007-08. The latest cohort (2007-08) graduated in the midst of the 2008 recession. This Statistics in Brief first examines how…

Community colleges are a critical resource for women seeking to achieve economic security and stability, yet many women who are community college students face challenges that make it difficult to persist in their education and complete their degrees. To understand the circumstances and experiences of female community college students in…

Approximately 23 million students enrolled in undergraduate postsecondary education in the United States during the 2011-12 academic year (Simone et al. 2013). The Web Tables in this report provide a comprehensive source (2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study [NPSAS:12]) of information on the financial aid that was awarded to these…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in South Dakota. Descriptive statistics are presented for South Dakota and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…

This report portrays various performance indicators that are intended to facilitate an assessment of the postsecondary education system in Missouri. Descriptive statistics are presented for Missouri and five other comparison states as well as the nation. Comparison states were selected according to the degree of similarity of population…