This TICAS (The Institute for College Access & Success) issue brief explores student financial vulnerability and highlights the need for policymakers to both prioritize need-based grant aid and recognize a broader array of financial circumstances and challenges impacting students in order to better address their financial needs and reduce…

Amid rising college tuition, low college-completion rates, and ever-changing employer demands for specialized skills, new forms of postsecondary education are gaining prominence. These "nontraditional" programs (such as coding boot camps) are typically short in duration and designed to prepare students for a particular occupation or…

Several federal agencies, including the Small Business Administration (SBA), provide training and other assistance to veterans seeking civilian employment. For example, the Department of Defense (DOD), in cooperation with the SBA, Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs, and several other federal agencies, operates the Transition Goals…

The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is established as a performance-based organization (PBO) pursuant to Section 141 of the Higher Education Act (HEA). This report begins by discussing the HEA provisions that distinguish FSA from other types of federal agencies. This is followed by a discussion of…

This poll was conducted between conducted April 10, 2025-April 13, 2025 among a sample of 2,251 Adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or…

More Latino students are attending college than ever before, bringing urgency to remove financial barriers that stand in the way of their academic goals and the promise of the American Dream. As the fastest-growing group within the national and postsecondary population, Latinos are vital to our nation's prosperity and progress. Seal of…

Many Latino students believe college provides an opportunity for economic and social mobility to reach the American Dream. Latino students also demonstrate financial need and leverage various cost-saving measures to make college more affordable. Concurrently, select colleges and universities are working to improve their policies and practices to…

The continued growth of online education in K-12 settings across the country has expanded students' access to coursework, learning opportunities, and academic support beyond the classroom. As part of this broader shift, emergency virtual instruction has become a common strategy that districts use to avoid losing instructional days when school…

Despite concerted efforts to increase participation in advanced placement (AP) and dual credit (DC) programs, their efficacy remains unexplored. Drawing upon St. John's model as the conceptual framework, this study employed a discrete-time event history analysis to examine the interplay between forms of financial aid and persistence toward degree…

Students' attitudes toward physical education (PE) affect decisions to be physically active, are affected by the teacher and the curriculum, and become less positive as children get older. Federal funding has been granted to improve physical education programs, yet it is unknown how this funding affects attitudes and decisions to remain active.…

In academic year (AY) 2018-2019, approximately 6,400 institutions of higher education (IHEs), enrolling about 26.5 million postsecondary education students, participated in the federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA; P.L. 89-329, as amended). These IHEs ranged in sector, size, and…

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was apparent that American jobs are undergoing massive technological transformation. In-demand careers increasingly require digital literacy skills, and for many industries digital skills are entry-level competencies for new hires and incumbent workers. Since the pandemic, digital demands in the U.S. workplace…

Analysis finds that out-of-pocket college costs are unaffordable for low-income Californians, and often more so at the state's community colleges where tuition is low. This analysis is the third in a series, and is the first to look at affordability challenges of students in different living arrangements. [Debbie Cochrane and Oliver Schak made…

At the end of 2019, 43 million Americans owed over $1.5 trillion in federal student loans. The rapid increase in these balances over the past decade has led many to deem student debt a "crisis." Now, there is growing support among Democratic policymakers, and even some Republicans, to immediately cancel all or most of the federal…

The passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act have afforded opportunities to close achievement gaps for historically underserved students. The purpose of this study is to examine the need for Local Education Agencies to receive final approval for K-12 public education federal funding…