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A panel of education experts and researchers on Thursday proposed a broad reconfiguration of federal policies on financial aid for college, including a simpler application process, Pell grant maximums linked to the consumer price index and, most radically, federally financed college savings accounts for children in low-income families. The panel recommended scrapping the current federal financial aid application, a dauntingly complicated form known as the Fafsa, and having the government get all needed financial information from the Internal Revenue Service. “More tinkering with a system built piecemeal in the last century is no longer an option,” said Sandy Baum, a...

Duke to Parents: Please Save by: Bethany Stotts, September 18, 2008 College tuitions have risen dramatically over the last two decades, with the average private four-year college costing parents $14,755 in 1991. Today that same four-year private college would cost $23,712 (2007 dollars), according to statistics released by the College Board. As Accuracy in Academia has documented, some scholars attribute the rising costs to ever-available federal financial aid, and some to an unnecessary emphasis on higher education. But Duke University’s former financial aid director, Jim Belvin, asserts that federal financial aid has “many positives,” including a “streamlining” effect and raising...

MADISON, Wis. - James Sturtz is not your ordinary college student struggling to pay tuition. The 48-year-old rapist is one of Iowa's most dangerous sex offenders, locked up in a state-run treatment center for fear he will attack again if released. Yet he has received thousands of dollars in federal aid to take college courses through the mail. Across the nation, dozens of sexual predators have been taking higher education classes at taxpayer expense while confined by the courts to treatment centers. Critics say they are exploiting a loophole to receive Pell Grants, the nation's premier financial aid program for...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, suggested Sunday that a tax break or other government financial help for homeowners facing the mortgage crunch would be the best political fix for the economy. He cautioned against meddling with home prices or interest rates to address the housing problem. Greenspan did not specifically call for a tax cut. Instead, he called for the government to apply money to the severe housing market slump. Such a cash infusion would typically come through a tax break or a new government spending program. "Cash is available and we should use...

Middle- and higher-income families, including those making $180,000, will get significantly more financial aid from Harvard University next school year under a new initiative unveiled today. Harvard President Drew Faust’s announcement puts more focus on financial aid for wealthier families after several years of efforts aimed at the students from the lowest family income levels. Faust’s predecessor, Lawrence Summers, sparked many other schools to follow suit when he announced in 2004 that the university would foot the entire cost for families making under $40,000. In 2006, the university extended the same benefit to families making under $60,000. Previously, families making...

Should you even bother? For many high-school seniors, this week isn't just the beginning of the academic year. It's also the start of the college-application season, and that means filling out financial-aid forms. But for many families with hefty incomes or sizable wealth, applying for aid will be a wasted effort. Here's a look at who likely won't qualify. Facing rejection You can get a handle on your aid eligibility by heading to www.collegeboard.com and playing with the College Board's Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, calculator. The key concept: If your EFC is below a college's total annual cost, you...

House Democrats were extolling their student loan bill for opening college to Americans with moderate incomes on Wednesday when Rep. Tom Price, a second-term Republican from Georgia, took the floor. "If only this bill did what they say," Price declared. His admonition constituted more than the usual hyperbole of congressional debate. The bill, passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, was touted as reducing the interest on federally subsidized student loans, from the present 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent. Actually, it gradually reaches the 3.4 percent level on July 1, 2011. A student taking out a loan on July 1 of...

SACRAMENTO – Students who came to the country illegally could apply for state financial aid when they attend California colleges and universities under legislation approved Tuesday by the Assembly in a party-line vote. Supporters said immigrant children who have graduated and completed at least three years of high school in California should not be penalized for their parents' decision to bring them to the U.S. illegally. “It is one small measure to help these kids that are working their butts off to live the American dream,” said Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate. The bill would build upon existing...

Students who came to the country illegally could apply for state financial aid when they attend California colleges and universities under legislation approved Tuesday by the Assembly in a party-line vote. Supporters said immigrant children who have graduated and completed at least three years of high school in California should not be penalized for their parents' decision to bring them to the U.S. illegally. "It is one small measure to help these kids that are working their butts off to live the American dream," said Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate. The bill would build upon existing state law...

Rojelio Hernandez was smart - but his scheme to defraud the government wasn't sophisticated. Armed with a library card, a student directory and a computer password, the 27-year-old architecture graduate supported his family and put himself and his friends through Texas Tech with stolen money. Hernandez testified last week that he and more than 30 other students took about $150,000 in federal financial aid for which they were ineligible. "Sure I took it from the government, but it wasn't like I took it from someone off the street," he said during the federal trial that brought Hernandez together with co-conspirators...

Over the years, politicians and, especially, college and university administrators, have led us to believe that federal aid to education was a ticket out of poverty, but that may be just another urban legend. “The more money a college-bound student’s family makes, the more likely he or she is to apply for federal financial aid, electronic records show,” Kara Wedekind of the Capital News Service writes. “It’s a situation that some experts say is caused by families scared off by college costs, even as the federal financial aid application deadline passed Monday.” “Dependent students in the lowest income bracket submitted...

Does anybody out there know the college financial aid game? What are the do's and don't's? What life-strategies help or hurt when it comes to getting the most out of college financial aid? I currently have a sophomore in a private university, and we have been fortunate that the college has provided this child a full ride so far. I also have a senior in high school, and he is looking at private schools as well ($$$$). We also have a third-grader. I have a modest income (let's say I have never maxed my Social Security withholdings). My wife has...

College shouldn't be difficult for Joaquin, who mastered Advanced Placement classes in a language he learned only four years ago and recently graduated 12th in his high school class. But paying for it will be. The 19-year-old is an undocumented immigrant. He doesn't qualify for federal financial aid, which makes up 90 percent of the average Texas college student's aid package... Congress is considering the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which would make some undocumented immigrant students eligible for federal loans, but not grants. The bill would make students who immigrated here five or more years ago...

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday formally announced the 16 countries, including eight in Africa, that have been chosen to participate in a new foreign aid program that ties U.S. assistance to political, social and economic reforms. Standing in front of flags from the 16 nations, Bush said that under the new program, known as the Millennium Challenge Account (search), America is pledging to increase development assistance by 50 percent over three years. "This divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity and misery, is far more than a challenge to our compassion," Bush said. "Persistent poverty and oppression can spread...

Households earning less than $40,000 annually will not be required to contribute to the cost of their children attending Harvard as part of the university's new initiative to reach out to students from low and moderate-income families. Through the initiative, announced Saturday, Harvard also will reduce the contributions expected of families earning between $40,000 and $60,000 and intensify its efforts to recruit talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It will set aside an additional $2 million to cover the expanded financial aid commitment. "We want to send the strongest possible message that Harvard is open to talented students from all economic...