People who are impacted by the criminal justice system ("system-impacted") face barriers when seeking financial aid to pay for college. Between the late 1960s and the early 2000s, Congress created laws that prohibited incarcerated students and students with certain criminal convictions from receiving federal grants and loans. This paper…

To address low completion rates, postsecondary leaders are championing a "guided pathways" approach that puts students on a prescribed route towards graduation. Designing solutions to address low completion rates is complex; in addition to academic roadblocks, insufficient financial resources coupled with a complicated financial aid…

In examining national data on Federal Pell Grant eligibility in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), we were puzzled to discover that many students who appear to have eligible Expected Family Contributions (EFCs) do not receive the award. We use institutional data from a large public university to understand and enumerate changes…

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…

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…

Institutions request National Direct Student Loan, College Work-Study, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program funding by submitting to the Office of Education the "Tripartite Application." This paper reviews the institutional application process and evaluates the format used by institutions for requesting aid funds.…

A study to determine the number of dependent students making changes on parental adjusted gross income during the verification process is discussed. The study defined the number of dependent students who had a change in their Student Aid Index as a result of validation. (MLW)

The verification of application data for the Pell Grant Program was conducted by the Office of Student Financial Assistance at Kansas State University. The study indicated that from an institutional standpoint the federally required validation has led to increased Pell Grant eligibility. (MLW)

A survey of a sample of aid recipients at the University of Nebraska at Omaha showed that over 50 percent of those receiving only loans do not finish the semester. Grants in combination with loans had a slightly positive effect on persistence. (MSE)