Loan borrowing among community college students has increased in recent years. This study utilized original survey data to examine this trend from the perspective and firsthand experiences of 107 community college financial aid counselors from three states: California, Florida, and Texas. Findings indicate these counselors are concerned with the…

Completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the first and most important step for students to receive their portion of the billions of grant aid dollars disbursed in federal student financial aid; however, every year many low income and community college students fail to complete the FAFSA. Over the past twenty years,…

Access to financial aid is dependent on a variety of factors, including the time of application; the earlier students apply for financial aid, the greater their access to institutional and often state resources. We use the Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) as a case for investigating the economic, social, and academic factors that affect…

Every year, millions of students who would have qualified for financial aid do not complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Discouragingly, many of these students come from lower-income families and would have qualified for Pell Grants that do not have to be repaid. Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students…

National statistics indicate that approximately 50 percent of all graduate students fail to complete their degree; thus, understanding the factors that influence their persistence is an important research objective. Using data from a nationally representative sample of bachelor's degree recipients, the study aimed to answer three questions: What…

In the context of a theoretical model of expected profit maximization, this paper shows how historic institutional data can be used to assist enrollment managers in determining the level of financial aid for students with varying demographic and quality characteristics. Optimal tuition pricing in conjunction with empirical estimation of…

This article focuses on the Web-based resources available to low-income students as they build their perceptions, make their decisions, and engage in financial aid activities. Data are gathered from the results of six focus groups with low-income high school students attending urban high schools. Findings suggest that low-income students do have…

Using institutional data, this paper presents a model to enable researchers and enrollment managers to assess the effectiveness of financial aid packaging policies in light of student characteristics and institutional market position. The model uses discriminant analysis and a series of hypothetical financial aid award scenarios to predict the…

This study examined the use of education tax credits at four community colleges using data from the Federal Quality Assurance Program in 1998, the first year of the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credit (LLTC). Preliminary estimates indicated that the two tax credits were expected to primarily benefit middle-income tax filers with…

For several decades, education has assumed a vital role in this country's economic, social, and political development, catapulting less advantaged citizens into higher social classes and the political process. A testament to education's fundamental importance in our society are the numerous programs designed during the 1960s to eliminate the…

This survey concludes that, overall, student debt has not caused most borrowers to make lifestyles changes nor regret their educational investment. Discussion analyzes borrower debt levels; payment-to-income and debt-to-income ratios; noneducation debt burden; student perceptions about borrowing and debt; effect of borrowing on decision making;…

Examines the total direct and indirect effects of receiving financial aid on persistence to degree using a subsample of 1989 freshmen from the Beginning Postsecondary Student Survey. Analysis shows that although simply receiving financial aid is unrelated to persistence, the effects of financial aid on persistence appear to depend on type and…

A study of graduate and professional student within-year persistence, based on the 1993 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, compared three models of the impact of financial aid on persistence. It was found that financial aid significantly and positively influenced within-year persistence, with comprehensive aid packages having the greatest…

Findings of a University of Wyoming study suggest that the BEOG program is accomplishing its purpose: making students from low resource families equal to students from more affluent families in their opportunity to persist, achieve, and graduate from higher education institutions. BEOG and non-BEOG recipients are equal in their capabilities for…