Access research
Selected research reports
Education at a Glance 2007 OECD, 2007
California Policy Options to Accelerate Latino Success in Higher Education Excelencia in Education, 2007
State of College Readiness for Latino Students ACT, 2007
2007 ACT National and State Scores ACT, 2007
America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing our Nation's Future Educational Testing Service, 2007
College Access for the Working Poor: Overcoming Burdens to Succeed in Higher Education Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2007
State Grant Aid and Its Effects on Students' College Choices Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2007
The Global State of Higher Education and the Rise of Private Finance Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2007
Squeeze Play: How Parents and the Public Look at Higher Education Today Public Agenda, 2007
A Voice from the Middle National Association of Secondary School Principals and Phi Delta Kappa International, 2007
Student Poll, High school students want parents to be more involved in college planning College Board and Art & Science Group, 2007
Thinking Outside the Box: Policy Strategies for Readiness, Access and Success Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2007
Opening the Doors to the American Dream: Increasing Higher Education Access and Success for Immigrants (PDF) Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2007
Working it Out: Community Colleges and the Workforce Investment Act (PDF) Institute for the Study of Family, Work, and Community, 2006
Sharpening the Dialogue: Engaging Policymakers in the Alignment of Appropriations (PDF) Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education, 2006
Tough Choices or Tough Times (PDF) National Center on Education and the Economy, 2006
College Rankings Reformed: The Case for a New Order in Higher Education (PDF) Education Sector, 2006
Engines of Inequality: Diminishing Equity in the Nation's Premier Public Universities (PDF) Education Trust, 2006
Trends in College Pricing 2006 (PDF) College Board, 2006
Trends in Student Aid 2006 (PDF) College Board, 2006
State of Decline?: Gaps in College Access and Achievement Call for Renewed Commitment to Educating Californians (PDF) Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, 2006
200304 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (PDF) National Center for Education Statistics, 2006
United States High School Sophomores: A Twenty-Two Year Comparison, 1980-2002 National Center for Education Statistics, 2006
What State Policymakers Should Know About Federal Higher Education Policy (PDF) Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2006
Accelerated Learning Options: A Promising Strategy for States (PDF) Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2006
The College Ladder: Linking Secondary and Postsecondary Education for Success for All Students (PDF) American Youth Policy Forum, 2006
Promise Abandoned: How Policy Choices and Institutional Practices Restrict College Opportunities (PDF) The Education Trust, 2006
Measuring Up 2006 The National Center For Public Policy and Higher Education, 2006
A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education U.S. Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education, 2006
Mortgaging our Future: How Financial Barriers to College Undercut America's Global Competitiveness (PDF) Advisory Committee on
Student Financial Assistance, 2006
Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 200304 (PDF) National Center for Education Statistics, 2006
Perceptions of College Financial Aid Among California Latino Youth The Tomαs Rivera Policy Institute, 2006
Accelerated Learning Options: Moving the Needle on Access and Success Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2006
The Postsecondary Educational Experiences of High School Career and Technical Education Concentrators National Center for Education Statistics, 2006
American Higher Education: How Does It Measure Up for the 21st Century? The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2006
Ready for College and Ready for Work: Same or Different? (PDF) ACT, 2006
Seeking solutions: A gathering at the summit Lumina Foundation, 2006
Its My Life: Postsecondary Education and Training Casey Family Programs, 2006
Paying Back, Not Giving Back: Student Debt's Negative Impact on Public Service Career Opportunities The State PIRGs' Higher Education Project, 2006
Claiming Common Ground: State Policymaking for Improving College Readiness and Success The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2006
Results that Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform (PDF) Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006
Fixing the Formula: A New Approach to Determining Independent Students Ability to Pay for College (PDF) Lumina Foundation, 2006
The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts (PDF) Civic Enterprises, 2006
Closing the Expectations Gap 2006: An Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Work Achieve, 2006
Reading Between the Lines: What the ACT Reveals about College Readiness in Reading ACT, 2006
The Future of Course Redesign and the National Center for Academic Transformation: An Interview with Carol A. Twigg Innovate, 2006
Educational Needs Index Tennessee Higher Education Commission, 2006
Advanced Placement Report to the Nation (PDF) College Board, 2006
Growing by Degrees: Online Education in the United States, 2005 (PDF) The Sloan Consortium, 2005
Higher Education Opportunities for Foster Youth (PDF) The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005
Beyond the Tunnel Problem: Addressing Cross-Cutting Issues that Impact Vulnerable Youth (PDF) Youth Transitions Funders Group, 2005
Remedial Education: One-third of Incoming College Students Unprepared by K-12 High Schools Colorado Commission on Higher Education, 2005
The Power to Change: High Schools that Help All Students Achieve (PDF) The Education Trust, 2005
Gaining Traction, Gaining Ground: How Some High Schools Accelerate Learning for Struggling Students (PDF) The Education Trust, 2005
An Annual Compilation of Data on State Tax Appropriations for the General Operation of Higher Education The Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, 2005
A New Look at the Institutional Component of Higher Education Finance: A Guide for Evaluating Performance Relative to Financial Resources (PDF) National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, 2005
The Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate for Public High Schools from the Common Core of Data National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
Early Commitment Financial Aid Programs (PDF) Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2005
Pathways to College Access and Success (PDF) U.S. Department of Education, 2005
National Inventory of Academic Pathways Academic Pathways to Access and Student Success, 2005
2005 White Papers The Bell Policy Center, 2005
Questions that Matter: Setting the Research Agenda on Access and Success in Postsecondary Education (PDF) Social Science Research Council, 2005
Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
Trends in Student Aid (PDF) College Board, 2005
Trends in College Pricing (PDF) College Board, 2005
Course corrections: Experts offer solutions to the college cost crisis (PDF) Lumina Foundation for Education, 2005
Postsecondary Institutions in the United States: Fall 2004 and Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2003-04 National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
Global Debt Patterns: An International Comparison of Student Loan Burdens and Repayment Conditions (PDF) Education Policy Institute, 2005
First Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at their College Transcripts National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
How Latino Students Pay for College Excelencia in Education and the Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005
Add and Subtract: Dual Enrollment as a State Strategy to Increase Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students (PDF) Jobs for the Future, 2005
No Merit in these Scholarships (PDF) Educational Policy Institute, 2005
Borrowers Who Drop Out: A Neglected Aspect of the College Student Loan Trend The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2005
Access to Community College for Undocumented Immigrants: A Guide for State Policymakers (PDF) Jobs for the Future, 2005
Private Scholarships Count: Access to Higher Education and the Critical Role of the Private Sector (PDF) Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005
What do we know about the impact of the design, operations, and marketing of financial aid programs on college enrollment? The Education Resource Institute, 2005
Getting it Done: Ten Steps to a State Action Agenda National Governors Association, 2005
The Navigator (PDF) Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, 2005
Postsecondary Institutions in the United States: Fall 2003 and Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2002-03 National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
Accountability for Better Results: A National Imperative for Higher Education National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education, 2005
Public High School Graduation and College-Readiness Rates: 19912002 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 2005
Life After High School: Young People Talk about their Hopes and Prospects Public Agenda, 2005
The Student Aid Gauntlet: Making Access to College Simple and Certain U.S. Department of Education, 2005
200304 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
A Profile of the American High School Sophomore in 2002 National Center for Education Statistics, 2005
Latino Students and the Educational Pipeline Educational Policy Institute, 2005
2004 Research
Trends in College Pricing 2004 (PDF) College Board, 2004
Trends in Student Aid 2004 (PDF) College Board, 2004
Federal Policy and Latinos in Higher Education Pew Hispanic Center, 2004
Latino Youth Finishing College: The Role of Selective Pathways Pew Hispanic Center, 2004
Latino Youth and the Pathway to College Pew Hispanic Center, 2004
Expanding College Access: The Impact of State Finance Strategies Lumina Foundation for Education, 2004
Fifty Years of College Choice (PDF) Lumina Foundation for Education, 2004
McCabe Fund Grantees: The 2004 Catalogue of Funded Programs, Effective Practices, and Lessons Learned to Improve Student Success and Academic Achievement (PDF) Lumina Foundation, 2004
Public Education and Black Male Students: A State Report Card (PDF) The Schott Foundation for Public Education, 2004
Responding to the Crisis in College Opportunity The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2004
A Decade of Undergraduate Student Aid: 1989-90 to 1999-2000 National Center for Education Statistics, 2004
Missed Opportunities: Students Who Do Not Apply for Financial Aid (PDF) American Council on Education, 2004
When Saving Means Losing: Weighing the Benefits of College-savings Plans (PDF) Lumina Foundation, 2004
Keeping American's Promise: A Report on the Future of the Community College (PDF) Education Commission of the States and the League for Innovation in the Community College, 2004
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001 National Center for Education Statistics, 2004
Indicators of Opportunity in Higher Education (PDF) The Pell Institute, 2004
Engagement by Design: 2004 Findings Community College Survey of Student Engagement, 2004
Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work ACT, 2004
Paying for College: Changes Between 1990 and 2000 for Full-Time Dependent Undergraduates NCES, 2004
From the Prison Track to the College Track: Pathways to Postsecondary Success for Out-of-School Youth (PDF) Jobs for the Future, 2004
Latino Youth and the Pathway to College (PDF) Educational Policy Institute and the Pew Hispanic Center, 2004
Federal Policy and Latinos in Higher Education: A Guide for Policymakers and Grantmakers Lumina Foundation and the Pew Hispanic Center, 2004
Connected by 25: A Plan for Investing in Successful Futures for Foster Youth (PDF) The Youth Transition Funders Group, The Foster Care Work Group and The Finance Project, 2004
Workforce Contingent Financial Aid: How States Link Financial Aid to Employment Lumina Foundation, 2004
Leaks in the Postsecondary Pipeline: A Survey of Americans Jobs for the Future, 2004
2003 Research
Ready for Tomorrow: Helping All Students Achieve Secondary and Postsecondary Success National Governor's Association, 2003
Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions: Fall 2001 and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2001 National Center for Education Statistics, 2003
Closing the College Participation Gap (PDF) Center for Community College Policy, 2003
Higher Education Reform: Incorporating the Needs of Foster Youth Casey Family Programs, 2003
Status and Trends in the Education of Blacks National Center for Education Statistics, 2003
High School Guidance Counseling National Center for Education Statistics, 2003
Unintended Consequences of Tuition Discounting (PDF) Lumina Foundation for Education, 2003
What Colleges Contribute: Institutional Aid to Full-Time Undergraduates Attending 4-Year Colleges and Universities National Center for Education Statistics, 2003
Student Success: Statewide P-16 Systems (PDF) State Higher Education Executive Officers, 2003
Policies in Sync: Appropriations, Tuition, and Financial Aid for Higher Education (PDF) Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2003
Investing Early: Intervention Programs in Selected U.S. States (PDF) The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2003
2002 Research
The Policy of Choice: Expanding Student Options in Higher Education (PDF) The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2002
What We Know about Access and Success in Postsecondary Education: Informing Lumina Foundation's Strategic Direction Lumina Foundation for Education, 2002
Empty Promises: The Myth of College Access in America (PDF) Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, 2002
Making the Grade in College Prep: A Guide for Improving College Preparation Courses (PDF) Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis, 2002
Meeting the Access Challenge: Indiana's Twenty-first Century Scholars Program (PDF) Indiana Education Policy Center, 2002
Unequal Opportunity: Disparities in College Access Among the 50 States (PDF) Lumina Foundation for Education, 2002
2001 Research
Bridging the Gap: Academic Preparation and Postsecondary Success of First-Generation Students U.S. Department of Education, 2001
Designing a State Student Grant Program: A Framework for Policy-Makers (PDF) Lumina Foundation for Education, 2001
Hope Works: Student Use of Education Tax Credits (PDF) University of California, Office of the President, 2001
2000 Research
College Affordability: Overlooked Long-Term Trends and Recent 50-State Patterns (PDF) USA Group Foundation, 2000
Discounting Toward Disaster: Tuition Discounting, College Finances, and Enrollments of Low-Income Undergraduates (PDF) USA Group Foundation, December, 2000
Student Debt Levels Continue to Rise (PDF) USA Group Foundation, June 2000
More college access research and resources are available at the
Pathways to College Network and Clearninghouse.