America's financial-aid system has become almost impossible to navigate and burdensome for those who need it most. Tuition and fees are skyrocketing, forcing almost half of college-going students to borrow. Low and middle-income students are taking on frightening levels of debt. Bachelor's degree recipients leave school with an average of $26,600 in debt, and over 100,000 students are shut out of college each year, with cost concerns acting as a major limiting factor. We must and can do better for students willing to work hard to learn their way into the middle class. The Education Trust proposes a college-aid redesign--a new system that shares responsibility among the federal government, states, institutions of higher education, and students to help low-income students attend and complete college with no loans and middle and upper-middle income students to do the same with no-interest loans. [For the full report, see ED543214.]