Student parents face many challenges to accessing, persisting, and completing postsecondary education. While some of these challenges are unique to student parents--such as finding quality child care during class and work hours and juggling studying and academic assignments with parenting duties--others are typical of low-income and underserved…

Any reform of federal student aid must address the twin challenges of college affordability and completion, which are inextricably linked. Here, CLASP has proposed ways to redirect existing federal student aid spending toward the low- and modest income families who need it most. These are the students for whom federal aid makes a difference in…

In the nearly fifty years since the adoption of the Higher Education Act of 1965, financial aid programs have grown in scale, expanded in scope, and multiplied in form. As a result, financial aid has become the norm among college enrollees. The increasing size and complexity of the nation's student aid system has generated questions about…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works to promote efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Through OIG's audits, inspections, investigations, and other reviews, they continue to identify areas of concern within the Department's programs and operations and…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works to promote efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Through OIG's audits, inspections, investigations, and other reviews, they continue to identify areas of concern within the Department's programs and operations and…

Student loan debt is fast becoming a fact of American life. Students are borrowing more money for college and are being forced to pay back large sums of their income. This report offers a new way to pay back student loans based on each individual's earnings. International Income-Contingent Loan Systems are appended. (Contains 1 figure and 40…

Using data from the 2007-08 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08), this Statistics in Brief examines the extent to which undergraduate students borrow the maximum possible within the limits of the Stafford loan program (the program maximum) and their own financial need and student budgets (the individual maximum). Students who…

This paper presents the U.S. Department of Education's Fiscal Year (FY) "2010 Summary of Performance and Financial Information." FY 2010 was a transition year for the Department as it moves to a new strategic plan. The Department is still firmly committed to its mission of promoting achievement and preparation for global competitiveness…

Getting an appointment with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is challenging, and it's also a challenge to put Duncan in an ideological box. Though he champions education reforms favored by Republicans such as charter schools and teacher merit pay, his opposition to school vouchers and his solid working relationship with teachers unions keep him…

The main objective of this study is to identify differences in the freshman financial aid packages of low-income, high-achieving minority students in public and private institutions. Our results suggest that private and selective institutions can offer better financial aid packages that enable them to recruit higher numbers of low-income,…

The Department of Education oversees various programs to help students pay for the costs of postsecondary education. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study focuses on the two largest student loan programs created under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (as amended): (1) The Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, which…

President Obama has emphasized the importance of higher education, and recently implemented ambitious higher education finance reform that will serve to benefit college students now and in the future. Although these changes are noteworthy, little has been done to help the many individuals who currently owe student debt, particularly private debt,…

In January 2010, the General Assembly passed the Complete College Tennessee Act (CCTA), a comprehensive reform agenda seeking to transform public higher education through changes in academic, fiscal, and administrative policies at the state and institutional levels. While the higher education landscape has been shaped by the CCTA, it is also…

West Virginia Code §18B-1D-8 statutorily mandates the "West Virginia Higher Education Report Card." This annual accountability report provides year-end higher education statistics for both of the state's higher education systems, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (Commission) and West Virginia Council for Community and…

This hearing is the third in a series examining critical issues in postsecondary education as the committee looks to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The topic discussed is of paramount importance and is arguably the bedrock of Federal higher education policy, that is, the Federal financial aid programs and their effectiveness in providing…