# Affordability and Financial Aid ## expand\_more ### Financial Aid ~ General Papers [**Long, B. T. (forthcoming 2014) “Supporting Access to Higher Education: The College Preparation and Financial Assistance Programs of the War on Poverty.”** ***Legacies of the War on Poverty: A 50 year Retrospective.*** **Martha Bailey and Sheldon Danziger, Eds. Part of a project sponsored by the National Poverty Center and the Russell Sage Foundation.**](/file_url/118) After introducing the major policies and programs, the paper considers whether the War on Poverty had the intended effects on improving college access, choice, or persistence. I will begin by tracking the growth of federal spending on higher education and the evolution of enrollment rates generally and by income and race. Then, I will draw upon the long literature on the effects of financial aid policies. Because it can be difficult to isolate the impact of a federal program, I also draw upon research on smaller programs to infer the likely effects of the national policies. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for current policy decisions about how to improve the financial aid system as well as future research. [**Long, B. T. (2011) “The New Financial Aid Policies: Their Impact on Access and Equity for Low-Income Students." Lisa M. Stulberg and Sharon L. Weinberg, Eds.** ***Diversity in American Higher Education: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach.*** **New York: Routledge Books.**](/file_url/115) This paper describes the recent growth at selective colleges of financial aid policies that target low-income students. Beyond just guaranteeing to meet financial need, these policies limit or eliminate student loans from aid packages. Many of the colleges have also increased their recruitment efforts. While early research suggests that the new aid policies have been successful at increasing the number of low-income students at selective institutions, the total number affected has been small. Ultimately, to have much of an impact on the representation of low-income students, the pool of eligible (i.e., high-achieving) students needs to be made larger by addressing academic barriers. [**Long, B. T. (2010) “Making College Affordable by Improving Aid Policy.”** ***Issues in Science and Technology.*** **Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Summer.**](/file_url/116) [**Long, B. T. and Erin K. Riley. (2007) “Financial Aid: A Broken Bridge to College Access?”** ***Harvard Educational Review*****, vol. 77, no. 1, Spring.**](/file_url/117) The article discusses how merit-based aid and education tax breaks are increasingly replacing need-based aid and how the declining role of grants, as opposed to loans, may disproportionately disadvantage low-income students and students of color. We also document the rise in students' unmet financial needs over the past decade, showing that low-income students and students of color are especially likely to face unmet need even after all grants, loans, and family contributions are taken into account. In response to these trends, we call for a greater emphasis on need-based aid, especially grants, to reduce the role of cost as a barrier to college access. ### Financial Aid ~ Massachusetts/New England [**Long, B.T. (2009) The Support of Public Higher Education in Massachusetts: How do we Compare? Prepared for Commissioner Richard Freeland, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.**](/file_url/119) Often the argument is made that state support of higher education in the Commonwealth is low in comparison to other states and relative to what is needed to fund a high-quality system. The objective of this work is to investigate this assertion by bringing credible evidence and analysis to bear. In reality, how well does the Commonwealth support public higher education, and how do the levels of support and expenditures compare to other states and peer institutions? [**Long, B. T. with Dana Ansel and Greg Leiserson. (2006) Paying for College: The Rising Cost of Higher Education. Boston, MA: MassINC.**](/file_url/120) This report focuses on college access and affordability issues in New England. At the same time that a college education has become the ticket to the middle class, college has become less affordable. The situation in New England is worse than it is nationally. Even though incomes are higher in the region, families are likely spending a higher share of their income to pay for college. [**Long, B. T., Clantha McCurdy, and Jamie Merisotis. (2006) Final Report from the Task Force on Student Financial Aid. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Board of Higher Education.**](/file_url/121) The Task Force on Student Financial Aid was charged with completing the three following tasks: (1) Evaluating the effectiveness of current Massachusetts state financial aid programs in providing higher education access and affordability to residents of the Commonwealth; (2) Identifying significant areas and financial aid programs that should be modified in light of state and national trends impacting college attendance; and (3) Recommending changes in policy that would promote, if implemented, access to higher education for needy students. This final report represents over two years of discussion and analysis of data from a variety of sources.