Redesigning the Financial Aid System

Redesigning the Financial Aid System
Author: Robert B. Archibald
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2002-12-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0801871239
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Archibald argues that one of the problems with the current model - in which universities are responsible for the majority of grants, while the federal government provides student loans - is that a student cannot know the final price of attending a given institution until after he or she has applied, been accepted, and received a financial aid offer. As a result, students remain largely uninformed about the cost of their college educations until very late in the decision-making process, and thus have difficulty making a timely choice. In addition, financial aid information is kept private, creating confusion over the price of a college education and the role of financial aid.

Redesigning the Financial Aid System

Redesigning the Financial Aid System
Author: Robert B. Archibald
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2003-05-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0801877598
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As the cost of higher education continues to rise, students and their families find it increasingly difficult to navigate the financial aid maze. In Redesigning the Financial Aid System, economist Robert Archibald examines the history of the system and its current flaws, and he makes a radical proposal for changing the structure of the system. Archibald argues that one of the problems with the current model—in which universities are responsible for the majority of grants while the federal government provides student loans—is that a student cannot know the final price of attending a given institution until after he or she has applied, been accepted, and received a financial aid offer. As a result, students remain largely uninformed about the cost of their college educations until very late in the decision-making process and so have difficulty making a timely choice. In addition, financial aid information is kept private, creating confusion over the price of a college education and the role of financial aid. Under Archibald's proposed reforms, the federal government would assess a student's financial need and provide need-based grants, while institutions would be responsible for guaranteeing student loans. Not only would this new system demystify financial aid and allow students to be better informed about the cost of college earlier in the process, but it would greatly simplify the application procedure and prevent financial aid allocation from contributing to the problem of rising tuition costs. Archibald's clear explanation of the current system—its impact, strengths, and weaknesses—as well as his plans for reform, will be of interest to educators, administrators, students, and parents.

Early & Often

Early & Often
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 9781501005091
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Early & Often

Early & Often
Author: Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
Publisher:
Total Pages: 10
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:
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Students and parents need ample time and accurate information to prepare for the financial burden of a college education--those who lack this knowledge base face a significant access barrier to higher education. The early intervention community is calling for a method of delivering age-appropriate information in a timely manner as one means of rectifying an access divide that grows wider each year. This report presents a systematic way to develop an early information delivery program and describes how a program can integrate a method of delivering financial aid information into an existing intervention. The full length report provides a complete, high-level structure of that system enabling practitioners to implement the specific approach most appropriate for their target population and intervention. This abridged version highlights the most important elements in the report leaving out the details that explain the research supporting the findings guiding our recommendations. The abridged version also excludes program examples that exemplify the recommendations. This document is meant as a quick reference guide directing the reader to the parts of the full report that may prove most useful. Page references to the full report are provided. To assist students and families in making informed choices about the financial decision to attend college, three questions must be addressed: (1) What information do students need to know?; (2) How can that information best be delivered?; and (3) When is the most appropriate time to deliver the information? The report is a complete resource on early financial aid information and seeks a wide audience, including curriculum developers, policymakers, college advisors, and the early intervention community. By adapting the framework, guidelines, and unit plans to suit the needs of a program's target population, practitioners may use the resources in this report to develop a financial aid information system uniquely geared to the needs of their own students. [For the full report, "Early & Often: Designing a Comprehensive System of Financial Aid Information. A Report of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance," see ED529501.].

Redesigning State Financial Aid

Redesigning State Financial Aid
Author: Sarah Pingel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 20
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:
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Several factors create a challenging environment for individuals seeking financial support to complete a postsecondary degree program. In recognition of the challenges of paying for higher education, decision-makers at the federal and state levels support college-going with public policy. Through direct institutional allocations, need and merit-based financial aid programs, and the provision of student loans, government policy has provided access to funds to reduce the price of participating in postsecondary education for many individuals. This is particularly true at the state level. This article presents four principles for state aid redesign that seek to guide state aid policy formation: (1) Financial aid programs should be student centered; (2) Financial aid programs should be goal driven and data informed; (3) Financial aid programs should be timely and flexible; and (4) Financial aid programs should be broadly inclusive of all students' educational pathways. ?Separately, each of the principles addresses a specific area for states to make incremental policy change. Taken together, they provide the opportunity for states to make fundamental shifts in how state financial aid programs are designed and awarded. This article contains endnotes.

Quality in Student Financial Aid Programs

Quality in Student Financial Aid Programs
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 1993-02-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 030904877X
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Federal financial aid for postsecondary education students involves both large expenditures and a complex distribution system. The accuracy of the needs-based award process and the system of accountability required of the 8,000 institutional participants are the focus of this book. It assesses the current measures of system quality and possible alternatives, such as a total quality management approach. The analysis covers steps to eliminate sources of errorâ€"by reducing the complexity of the application form, for example. The volume discusses the potential for a risk-based approach for verification of applicant-supplied information and for audit and program reviews of institutions. This examination of the interrelationships among the aid award and quality control activities will be of interest to anyone searching for a more efficient aid system. The book can also serve as a case study for other government agencies seeking to examine operations using modern quality management principles.

Reinventing Financial Aid

Reinventing Financial Aid
Author: Andrew P. Kelly
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: College costs
ISBN: 9781612507156
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In this provocative volume, two experts with very different points of view address the growing concern that student loan programs are not a sustainable solution to the problem of mounting college costs. They argue that the time has come to reform the financial aid system so that it is more effective in promoting college affordability, access, and completion. Reinventing Financial Aid provides a thorough critique of the existing financial aid system and identifies the challenges of reform. It presents a host of innovations designed to improve grant and loan programs and the processes by which students access them. Pushing past current debates, it also challenges leaders to think more boldly about policy design, examine the assumptions and incentives embedded in the current system, and lay the groundwork for a fundamental rethinking of student aid programs. While the editors agree that bold new thinking on financial aid policy is needed, they do not aim for consensus. Instead, they have leveraged their differences to flesh out important tensions, trade-offs, and areas of common ground that emerge from innovative approaches to reform. The result is a volume that serves as a counterpoint to the incremental approach to financial aid reform that has led to record tuition levels, growing student debt, and increasing doubts about the value of a college education.

The New College Financial Aid System

The New College Financial Aid System
Author: David Jaffe
Publisher:
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1993
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780933031821
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These are the facts, strategies, and loopholes you'll find it difficult or impossible to learn from the colleges you are applying to. If your family earns between $30,000 and $130,000, and you don't want to cash in your retirement funds or take a second mortgage in order to send your children to college, this book is a necessity. It tells in layman's terms how to get the largest possible amount of financial aid based on your own unique financial situation. You may assume you cannot qualify because your family earns too much or your assets are too great. Chances are you're wrong - you can be a candidate for college aid. Over $23 billion in federal aid is available each year and millions of dollars more are available from American colleges and universities. You don't have to be a hardship case to qualify for significant financial aid for educational purposes. Middle and even upper-middle class families may receive $5,000 - and up to $20,000 - per year if they learn the strategies clearly and definitively outlined in this book. It's all a matter of having the right answers in the right places, and David Jaffe will walk you thorugh the entire process step by step This book has been rushed to press in order that it can include the very important changes which govern financial aid since the recent passage of the amended Higher Education Act

State Financial Aid

State Financial Aid
Author: Sarah Pingel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 11
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:
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College is increasingly expensive for students, but states have an important policy tool to help defray the costs: state financial aid programs. However, many states' programs are misaligned with articulated strategic postsecondary education policy goals. Over the past two years, Education Commission of the States has supported a variety of state-level projects to redesign state financial aid. This report shares lessons learned from each of these efforts. This brief demonstrates that: (1) State aid may be promised to students early, but income criteria at the time of college matriculation may result in the unintended consequence of additional barriers for the very students early promise scholarship programs are designed to serve; (2) College affordability enjoys a disproportionate share of attention from policy leaders. This attention may result in productive policy evolution towards strategic goals or in approaches that suffer from a lack of cohesion and focus; (3) Completely eliminating the cost of college may be a way to reach low-income and other underrepresented student populations, but a student's age should not be the deciding factor in eligibility if states intend to enroll or re-enroll adult students through free college programs; and (4) States should carefully consider how institutional eligibility criteria to participate in state aid programs reflect pathways that are the most promising for students, or to what extent they may employ state financial aid simply as an additional conduit for institutional support.