Improving Federal Student Aid Availability

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an extensive discussion of past and present student financial aid programs in the US. The author cites relevant literature that calls for improvement in the current system. Several specific programs and proposals are addressed. Current legislation for financial aid reform is also highlighted. In particular, the author details the differences between grants and loans, and how they affect low income families. The paper concludes that individuals and society benefit economically and socially from higher education. This ideal can materialize only if education supersedes politics.

Table of Contents:
Higher Up
Goal to Superseding Politics
The Case Today
Paramount Concerns
Results and Recommendations
The Door to Higher Education
References

From the Paper:

"During the past 20 years, however, federal financial aid has veered from awarding grants. Loans, rather than grants, totaled 45% of federal student aid in 1981. Fifty-eight percent of federal aid to students was loan form during 2000. During the 1999-2000 academic year, more than one half of America's 16.5 million higher education students received some type of financial aid from federal, state, institutional, or other sources. Of this number, forty-four percent of undergraduates received grants, which averaged $3,500, while 29% of these students secured student loans, which averaged $5,100. (Camara & Kimmel, 2005, p. 45)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burd, Stephen. (2006). Plenty of Ideas About Student Aid, but No Road Map. Government & Politics Volume 53, Issue 2, Page A40. Retrieved 4 December 2006 from: bin/printable.cgi?article=http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i02/02a04001.htm.
• Camara, W. J. & Kimmel, E. W. (Eds.). (2005). Choosing Students: Higher Education Admissions Tools for the 21st Century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Chitty, Haley. (2006, June 1). "High access, low priority: the rhetoric related to the importance of student aid does not match reality.(FINANCIAL AID)", University Business.
• Curs, Bradley R.. (2006, July 1). "HOPE for the Pell? Institutional effects in the intersection of merit-based and need-based aid.(Georgia's Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally scholarship)(Pell Program)", Southern Economic Journal.
• Dervarics, Charles. (2005, December 15.). "Stopping the raid on student aid: higher education = leaders call on lawmakers to use Pell Grant surplus to expand the program, rather than divert funds to other projects.", Diverse Issues in Higher Education..

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