The role of policy research on federal aid to college students is considered. Attention is directed to the contributions of research to the origins of federal policies in the 1960s and the later expansion of benefits to middle-income students. In addition, recent research on the effects of student aid is reviewed, and the outlook for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in the mid-1980s is noted. Census and other survey data have documented the inequities in opportunities to attend college. The enactment of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act in 1978 permitted any student to quality for Guaranteed Student Loans (GSL). One function of the National Commission on Student Financial Assistance, which was established in 1980, was to study alternative proposals to reduce GSL costs. To date, the Commission's work has supported the status quo in federal student loan policies. There are limitations in the available data and analysis on the complex issue of whether student aid has made a difference in patterns of student access and choice. Although the results of policy research will be variously used, misused, and ignored in the political process, the information is important to policy decisions. (SW)