The Advisory Committee's 2010 report, "The Rising Price of Inequality," found that need-based grant aid from all sources was inadequate by examining the enrollment and completion rates of low-income high school graduates who seek to earn a bachelor's degree and are qualified to gain admission to a 4-year college. The major finding was…

The Advisory Committee was created by Congress in the "Higher Education Amendments of 1986" to be an independent and nonpartisan source of knowledge, advice, and counsel to Congress and the Secretary of Education on federal, state, and institutional postsecondary student assistance. One of the most important analytical directives in the…

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…

There is growing interest in leveraging Title IV student aid to improve college completion. Advocates have proposed linking funding in the Pell and Campus-Based Programs to measures of college performance. However, to do so in an equitable and efficient manner, raw measures of college output, such as rates of graduation and academic progress, must…

College completion rates are stagnant or falling today, particularly among young Americans, a trend that threatens to undermine the nation's global competitiveness and further exacerbate inequality in the nation's income distribution. In the past, efforts to ensure academic quality, access, and student success in higher education have produced…

A review of net price calculators--a financial aid tool mandated by the "Higher Education Opportunity Act" of 2008--reveals that students from low-, moderate-, and middle-income families face record-level net prices at 4-year public colleges today. These net prices will translate into levels of average total loan burden far in excess of…

In making decisions about college, it is essential that students and parents focus on net price, which is the dollar amount that must be paid after subtracting financial assistance from cost of attendance. A net price calculator is one of two financial aid tools designed to provide students and parents with accurate and timely information about…

In the "Higher Education Opportunity Act" of 2008, Congress charged the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance with conducting a review and analysis of regulations affecting higher education, to determine the extent to which regulations are overly burdensome and need to be streamlined, improved, or eliminated. Specifically,…

In the "Higher Education Opportunity Act" of 2008, Congress charged the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance with conducting a review and analysis of regulations affecting higher education to determine the extent to which regulations are overly burdensome and need to be streamlined, improved, or eliminated. Specifically, Congress…

The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance held a public hearing in Washington DC on Friday last September 30, 2011. Three questions drove the discussion: (1) What are the primary barriers to access and persistence for nontraditional students?; (2) What are the most promising state and institutional strategies and policies for…

Congress charged the Advisory Committee in the "Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008" with monitoring and reporting on the condition of college access and persistence for low- and moderate-income students. The law requires provision of analyses and policy recommendations regarding the adequacy of grant aid from all sources--federal, state, and…

Recognizing the need to strengthen the community college pathway, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance has undertaken an initiative on community colleges. Through its research, the Committee has noted three critical transition points for students who start at a community college and intend to obtain a bachelor's degree:…

Community colleges play an important role in bachelor's degree attainment, especially for the most economically vulnerable students. However, the community college pathway to a bachelor's degree is not as strong as that of students who begin at a four-year institution. Strengthening this pathway is a necessary means to improving America's ability…

This issue of "Access & Persistence" describes the roundtable discussion, "Ensuring Access to College Amid Economic Uncertainty," held on June 13, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. The purpose of the discussion was to gather information from a variety of perspectives within the higher education community on effects of the…

Students and parents need ample time and accurate information to prepare for the financial burden of a college education--those who lack this knowledge base face a significant access barrier to higher education. The early intervention community is calling for a method of delivering age-appropriate information in a timely manner as one means of…