There has been little data collected on how much testing actually goes on in America's schools and how the results are used. So in the Spring of 2014, the Council staff developed and launched a survey of assessment practices. This report presents the findings from that survey and subsequent Council analysis and review of the data. It also offers…

"College Bound? Make the Right Choices" is the Pope Center's latest tool for improving colleges and universities "from the bottom up" through better choices. Its purpose is to help high school students and their parents become smarter purchasers of higher education. This booklet by Jenna Ashley Robinson helps young people think through what they…

Over the past several decades, college tuition has nearly tripled, adjusting for inflation, and federal student aid has shifted from a predominantly grant-based system to one dominated by loan aid. These two factors have conspired to create a debt-for-diploma system, affecting young adults' choices about college, including where they enroll and…

Financial aid to students in tertiary education can contribute to human capital accumulation through two channels: increased enrollment and improved student performance. We pay particular attention to the latter channel, and study its quantitative importance in the context of a student support program from the Sociedad de Fomento a la Educacion…

As he begins retirement this month after 40 years of federal service, the Education Department's departing inspector general, John P. Higgins Jr., sees one area that stands out for its susceptibility to costly waste and abuse. That area, Higgins said in an interview as he finished packing up his office, is student lending. Unless Congress greatly…

Web sites that allow borrowers to compare student loans proliferated in the wake of last year's scandals that exposed conflicts of interest in the lending industry. Now the credit crunch is shifting demand for loan-comparison sites again, providing both new challenges and opportunities. More financial-aid officers are also pointing their students…

College prices rose only slightly faster than inflation for the 2008-2009 academic year, but that may say more about the American economy's steeper prices for everything than it does about college costs. Tuition and fees rose between 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent for various types of institutions, similar to previous years, but a 5.6-percent…

Last April, as part of a $2-million settlement with New York's attorney general, the nation's largest student-loan company, Sallie Mae, agreed to stop providing staff members for colleges' financial-aid offices and call centers at no cost to the institutions. But one year later, Sallie Mae still plays host to the entire online presence for the…

The relatively short repayment periods of four or six years after graduation under the Government-Subsidized Student Loan (GSSL), the main student loans programme in China, has, since its implementation in 1999, imposed considerable hardship in repaying loans. This paper presents a new diversified repayment model, the "geometric proportion…

The demands of society and constraints on resources will require change in the financing models states use to fund their higher education enterprises. Models built on the priorities of student access and institutional growth will no longer suffice. Those based on student success and productivity increases consistent with getting more entering…

This document addresses the status of equality in access to higher education. Some of the motivating factors behind this presentation include: (1) College completion rates including rates of bachelor's degree completion are falling today, particularly among young Americans; (2) Reversing the current trend and increasing college completion has…

"Trends in Student Aid," an annual College Board publication since 1983, is a compendium of detailed, up-to-date information on the funding that is available to help students pay for college. This report sorts aid into grants, loans, tax benefits, and Federal Work-Study assistance. It documents funding from federal and state governments,…

Using data from the 1995-96, 1999-2000, 2003-04, and 2007-08 administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, these tables focus on trends in the receipt of federal Pell Grants and among Pell Grant recipients. Data include the percentages of Pell Grant recipients and the average Pell Grant received each survey year. Also shown are…

Mounting student debt to cover rising college costs is creating a challenging environment for a number of students pursuing a college degree. For many, a college degree is an avenue to financial success and long-term stability. Most college graduates experience more stable employment, higher income, security through assets, and an overall better…

Sallie Mae's national study, "How America Pays for College," now in its fourth year, shows the resilience of American families' strongly held belief in the value of a college education. Even in the face of rising tuition costs and the worst economic decline in a generation, between academic years 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 Americans paid increasingly…