Fundamental features of the financial aid systems for college students in 10 European countries are described, as are the theoretical framework and research topics of the study on which this report is based. The study is intended to determine the per capita degree of subsidization in each country; to describe the effects of the financial aid program on socioeconomic recruitment to higher education; and to examine the decision-making process, particularly with regard to the consensus or conflict in the process and the knowledge of the effects of the program. The following chapters are prevented: (1) "Study Assistance--A Welfare Measure with Great Variation" (background of the study and the social and economic background of student aid in Europe); (2) "Descriptions of the Systems in the Different Countries" (Austria, England and Wales, West Germany, Finland, France, East Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden); (3) "Problems and Delimitation in a Comparative Analysis"; and (4) "Conceptual Framework" (the theories and sociopolitical context of the study). Contains 40 references. (KM)