Student Financial Assistance Programs  

The National Study of the Operation of the Federal Work-Study Program
The Federal Work-Study (FWS) program, begun in 1965, disburses federal funding to postsecondary institutions to provide students with part-time employment opportunities to help finance their education. In FY 2000, the federal government provided $934 million through the FWS program to help support 1 million postsecondary students. This report, based on a nationally representative survey of Federal Work-Study (FWS) administrators and recipients conducted in 1998, analyzes student and institutional experiences with the FWS program and describes how the program is operated.

Results from the study indicated that students had high levels of satisfaction with the FWS program and felt that it contributed positively to their academic studies. Students also felt that they received the supervision and training they needed. Institutions generally tried to match FWS students with jobs and routinely followed up with employers. However, institutions rarely followed up with students regarding their satisfaction with the program. Both students and institutions indicated a high level of interest in participating in America Reads and the vast majority of students who held community service jobs felt that this would have a positive effect on their future participation in community service activities. Among institutions participating in America Reads, approximately 90 percent indicated they were satisfied with their relationship with the schools or organization where FWS students were tutoring and no institutions reported being dissatisfied with their relationship.

The Analysis and Highlights provides a summary of major findings from the report. Also available is the full report in PDF and MS Word .

Evaluation of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program
Products and evaluation design of the five year evaluation of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. This evaluation examines the overall effectiveness of the Direct Loan Program in providing simplified administration and customer satisfaction. Other evaluation components include institutional and borrower surveys and institutional case studies.

Evaluation Findings

Factors Related to College Enrollment(1998)
As the returns to a college education have increased, there has been concern that access to postsecondary education (PSE) is not as widespread as is desired. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), a survey that follows more than 13,000 students from the eighth grade through the second year after high school, this study (conducted by Mathtech, Inc.) examines factors related to PSE enrollment. The emphasis is on how early indicators, such as expectations and course-taking behavior in the eighth grade, are related to college attendance six years later. We examine attendance at all types of PSE, and at 4-year public, 4-year private, less than 4-year public, and less than 4-year private institutions.

Executive Summary Download report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF ) file (247k)

The Effects of the 1992 Higher Education Amendments: Evidence from Pell Program Data and a Survey of Pell Grant Recipients (1997)
During the 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), a number of changes were made in the need analysis formulas that determine the expected family contribution (EFC) used in awarding Title IV Federal student aid.

The changes in the EFC calculation included merging the previously separate need analysis formulas for the Pell Grant and other Title IV student aid programs into a single formula, altering the definition of an independent student making it more difficult to qualify as an independent, lowering the family size offset for independent students without dependents, eliminating home equity from the need analysis formula, and raising the income limit for filing the simplified needs form from $15,000 to $50,000.

Prior to implementation of the HEA amendments, it was possible to simulate the effect of these need analysis rule changes on students' EFCs. The change in actual EFCs would depend not only on the effect of the changes made in the need analysis formulas by the 1992 HEA Amendments but also changes in students' financial and personal circumstances from one year to the next. We analyzed changes in EFC caused by the HEA and other factors using a merged sample of applicants who applied for Title IV aid before (1992-93) and after (1993-94) the HEA amendments took effect.

Study Summary

Postsecondary Education Institutions' Satisfaction with Student Financial Assistance Programs Study Results
This report presents the results of a survey of postsecondary institutions concerning their satisfaction with the delivery of federal student financial assistance programs (SFAP). The purpose of the survey was to determine both institutions' overall level of satisfaction and their satisfaction within several categories of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) customer support services (program materials and publications, training, the application process, electronic processing, inquiry and information services, funds management, program reviews and audits, and program operations). (1996)

Paper on Institutional Satisfaction. Download report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF ) file (240k)

Direct Student Loans in the Changing Landscape of Higher Education Finance
This essay, prepared by Martin Kramer, suggests that the crucial factor influencing parental attitudes toward financing postsecondary education is likely to be how good an investment higher education is perceived to be--the outlays involved in making that investment weighed against the returns it is expected to produce.

Paper Overview and Text

New Directions in Student Loans: Intergenerational Equity.
This paper, prepared by Sandy Baum, examines the inter-generational implications of recent changes in college loan programs. First, however, it provides background on the question of who should pay for college. Are there strong arguments for publicly enforced transfers from one generation to the next? Would a system of individual responsibility for financing higher education be optimal? Are there convincing economic arguments for significant parental participation in paying for college? The basic premise is that it is not possible to evaluate inter-generational effects of specific programs without an understanding of the philosophical, social and economic arguments for any particular division of the burden.

Paper Overview and Text