The College Aid Quandary

Each year, millions of American families struggle with the expense of higher education. For the past fifty years, the U.S. government has helped students and families pay for college; but with the entire domestic policy agenda in flux, federal aid to education hangs in the balance. This book analyzes government policies for helping students pay for education beyond high school. It is being published at a time when aid to education is a prominent issue in battles over the federal budget and policymakers are debating the need for and effectiveness of federal student assistance programs. Starting with the post-World War II GI Bill, the book reviews the 50-year history of federal student aid legislation, assesses the results, and identifies trends and problems that cloud the future of this critically important national effort. The authors draw on the thinking of the country's top experts in examining the rationale and structure of the student aid system and how it might more effectively expand college opportunities while ensuring educational quality. Their analysis encourages policymakers to consider the multiple objectives of government aid—not just getting more students into college, but promoting student success and degree completion. The book offers a framework for future policy debates aimed at improving a system vital to America's economic future and its continued promise of opportunity. Copublished with the College Board / Dialogue on Public Policy

Each year, millions of American families struggle with the expense of higher education. For the past fifty years, the U.S. government has helped students and families pay for college; but with the entire domestic policy agenda in flux, federal aid to education hangs in the balance. This book analyzes government policies for helping students pay for education beyond high school. It is being published at a time when aid to education is a prominent issue in battles over the federal budget and policymakers are debating the need for and effectiveness of federal student assistance programs. Starting with the post-World War II GI Bill, the book reviews the 50-year history of federal student aid legislation, assesses the results, and identifies trends and problems that cloud the future of this critically important national effort. The authors draw on the thinking of the country's top experts in examining the rationale and structure of the student aid system and how it might more effectively expand college opportunities while ensuring educational quality. Their analysis encourages policymakers to consider the multiple objectives of government aid—not just getting more students into college, but promoting student success and degree completion. The book offers a framework for future policy debates aimed at improving a system vital to America's economic future and its continued promise of opportunity. Copublished with the College Board / Dialogue on Public Policy

Taxation policy was a central part of the policy debates over the “fiscal cliff.” Given the importance of fiscal issues, it is vital for rigorous empirical research to inform the policy dialogue. In keeping with the NBER’s tradition of carrying out rigorous but policy-relevant research, Volume 27 of Tax Policy and the Economy offers insights on a number of key tax policy questions. This year's volume features six papers by leading scholars who examine the tax treatment of tuition at private K-12 schools, the potential streamlining of the federal rules for post-secondary financial aid and the use of tax return information in this process, the effect of tax and benefit programs on incentives to work, the macroeconomic effects of fiscal adjustments, and the set of factors that contributed to the weakening US fiscal outlook in the last decade.

Compared to the literature on the impact of post-secondary institutions on undergraduate institutions, the literature on the academic experiences of graduate students from underrepresented populations is comparatively meager.This book remedies this gap by gathering a rich collection of personal narratives and empirical research to provide a comprehensive account of the actual lived experiences of graduate students of color and their perception of the campus climate.This volume examines issues of access, retention, and transition; and explores the personal experiences of students of color in advanced-degree programs. The contributors cover issues such as financial aid; the culture, mission and racial climate at doctoral granting institutions; the transitional challenges STEM undergraduates face on entering graduate programs; mentoring; the distinct concerns and challenges that African, Asian and Latina/o students encounter in doctoral and professional programs; and the need to acknowledge and support their spirituality.Franklin Tuitt concludes the book by summarizing the issues raised, and making recommendations to faculty, administrators, and directors of graduate programs about what they can do to promote the well-being and success of graduate students of color.

At a time of great economic uncertainty, The Business of Higher Education looks at the pros and cons of colleges and universities taking a more business-like approach to fulfilling their missions. How can colleges and universities navigate their way between shrinking commitments and the increasing expectations of their students? Does the answer lie in taking a more business-like approach? This extraordinary resource considers the costs and benefits to both public and private institutions and to society when academe embraces business models for improving cost-efficiency, marketing, hiring practices, and customer service. Bringing together a diverse team of contributors from the academic and business worlds, The Business of Higher Education offers 35 essays in three volumes. The first volume explores issues of leadership and culture, the second focuses on management and fiscal strategies, and the third volume takes up issues of marketing and consumer interests. Throughout, the work balances the contrasting perspectives of those within the academy and those outside of it, as it considers whether higher education and the public interest are ultimately helped or harmed by the application of business methods to essential academic functions.

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities.

The most comprehensive encyclopedia available on the U.S. government's responses to poverty from the colonial era to the present day. Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical Encyclopedia looks at one of the most important and controversial issues in U.S. history. Debated vigorously every election year, poverty is a topic that no politician at any level of government can escape. Ranging from colonial times to the New Deal, from Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty to welfare reform and beyond, it is the only encyclopedia focused exclusively on policy initiatives aimed at underprivileged citizens and the impact of those initiatives on the nation. Poverty and the Government in America offers over 170 entries on policies implemented to alleviate poverty—their historic contexts, rationales, and legacies. The encyclopedia also features separate essays on how poverty has been addressed at federal, state, local, and Native American tribal levels throughout U.S. history. Complimented by a richly detailed chronology and a wealth of primary documents, these features help readers grasp both the broad contours of government efforts to fight poverty and the details and results of specific policies.