Impact of Student Financial Aid on Access

The battle over the federal government's spending levels and its policy toward student financial aid reflects an unstable but fundamental disagreement over the effectiveness of these programs. Appeals to evidence on effectiveness have been absent from the sharp political debate over budget cuts between the Reagan administration and the higher-education community. The administration justified the cuts as part of a program to contain federal spending. Representatives for higher education countered with predictions that the cutbacks would reduce enrollments of financially disadvantaged students, weaken the demand for faculty members, and jeopardize the financial condition of a number of colleges and universities. Neither side paid much attention to whether the student-aid programs had been successful. The most obvious appeal might have been made to the record of these programs, which include outright grants, subsidized loans, and work-study grants. Their purpose is to give students with demonstrated financial need greater access to college, a wider choice among institutions, and a better chance of fin