Affordability and Financial Aid

college affordability

The rising cost of higher education has become a critical issue, shaping student access, persistence, and post-graduation outcomes. At CSHE, our research explores barriers to provide affordable higher education to every student and the institutional, state, and federal efforts to create more equitable pathways to higher education. This page highlights CSHE’s work on affordability, providing data-driven insights to inform policy and practice.

Selected publications include: 

The Allure of Free Tuition

Tuition as a Path for Affordability? The Pursuit of a Progressive Tuition Model at the University of California

Affording the Dream: Student Debt and State Need-Based Grant Aid for Public University Students by C. Eaton, S. Kulkarni, R. Birgeneau, H. Brady, and M. Hout

College Affordability and the Emergence of Progressive Tuition Models: Are New Financial Aid Policies at Major Public Universities Working? by Patrick A. Lapid and John Aubrey Douglass

The Student Debt Dilemma: Debt Aversion As A Barrier To College Access. Pamela Burdman. CSHE.13.05. (October 2005)

Wealth, Cost, and the Undergraduate Student Experience at Large Public Research Universities. UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education.

The Big Curve: Trends in University Fees and Financing in the EU and US. UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education. Douglass, J. A, & Keeling, R. 

The Effects of a Changing Financial Context on the University of California. UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education. Kissler, G. R, & Switkes, E.