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Affordability & Need-Based Aid
Need-based aid does more than make college more affordable - it makes college possible.
Publication
Initiative
Looking Back to Move Forward: A History of Federal Student Aid
This documentary series provides insight into the programs’ origins, milestones, and current issues as we ponder future direction and navigate foreseeable roadblocks to new policy innovation.
At a time when approximately two-thirds of jobs across the country will require some postsecondary education, a college degree is increasingly important for today's students, families, and our workforce development.
As state investment and the purchasing power of need-based financial aid remain stagnant or even decline, today's students face affordability challenges that threaten to derail their college dreams. If college access and attainment are predicated on a student's ability to pay, we only worsen the inequities we see today.
To promote affordable postsecondary education for today's students, IHEP:
- identifies affordability challenges that disproportionately impact today's students;
- examines innovative approaches to address financial challenges - always with an eye to the equity impact of the approach;
- encourages the protection of need-based aid and support at the federal, state, and institutional levels; and
- works with policymakers and practitioners to advance strategies and policies that prioritize investment in students from low- and moderate-income backgrounds.