The effect of changes in federal support of student financial aid on tuition pricing, institutional funding of student aid, and alumni giving during 1978 to 1981 was studied with 388 colleges and universities. Private colleges with increasing enrollments were more likely to hold tuitions down than were those with decreasing enrollment. Increased federal fund revenues in total were not associated with increases in tuition; however, federal fund increases per student were associated with tuition increases. For public colleges, increased federal funds were associated with slightly increased tuitions. For both private and public colleges, increased federal funding was associated with increased institutionally funded student aid and with higher administrative and instructional costs. There was little effect of federal funding on alumni giving, with the exception that increases to Guaranteed Student Loans were associated with decreased alumni giving at private colleges and with slightly diminished restricted gifts at public colleges. It is suggested that increased federal grant as opposed to loan support will allow institutions to shift some funds from scholarships to meet inflationary cost increases in instruction and administration. Information on the research methodology and regression results is appended. (SW)