Aug 19 Watch 6:20 Should financial aid only go to college students in need? By PBS News Hour At many colleges and universities, merit-based scholarships are meant to attract the best and the brightest students. But opponents say they can inadvertently end up rewarding the richest applicants. That’s why some schools have started giving out need-based aid only. Continue watching
Aug 19 Twitter Chat: Merit vs. need-based scholarships By Margaret Sessa-Hawkins In America, many scholarships are given out based on merit, handed out to students who have good grades and high test scores. While this plan is meant to attract the best and the brightest, it can also mean that money… Continue reading
Aug 19 Tennessee scraps classes standing between less-prepared students and college credit By Kyla Calvert Mason When classes start at Tennessee's community colleges next week, the path to a degree or certificate will have a new starting point. More than 70 percent of the state's students starting a two-year degree program have test scores showing they… Continue reading
Aug 19 Employer steps in to help low-income students get through college By Meredith Kolodner Mercedez Vargas really wanted to get her high school diploma, but she struggled to get passing grades at a last-chance night school in the Bronx just as she had in the daytime at Marie Curie High School. A college degree?… Continue reading
Aug 18 Watch 7:13 Does early college for high school students pave a path to graduation? By PBS News Hour In a Texas border town where nearly all high school students live in poverty, the school district is trying an experiment to get more kids into college. Instead of waiting until students graduate to enroll them in higher education, the… Continue watching
Aug 18 Low-income students struggle to pay for college, even in a state that still provides help By Matt Krupnick, The Hechinger Report Despite a dramatic tise in tuition in the last decade, California’s public universities have tried to ensure that its poorest residents can still afford to go to college. But California’s attempts to keep college affordable mask the reality that the… Continue reading
Aug 17 Watch Why poor students drop out even when financial aid covers the cost By PBS News Hour Among the many students heading off to college this fall, those from wealthier backgrounds are far more likely to graduate after four years. Hari Sreenivasan takes a look at why that occurs, and what one university is doing to combat… Continue watching
Aug 17 The difference $900 can make in college graduation rates By Kyla Calvert Mason At the start of each semester, the financial aid money appeared in Sana Ahmed Malik's account. The federal and state funds typically covered the cost of tuition, with a little left over for books and living expenses. But the fall… Continue reading
Aug 17 Billions in Pell Grants go to students who never graduate By Sarah Butrymowicz, The Hechinger Report A Hechinger Report analysis of Pell grant graduation rate data from a cross section of colleges and universities suggests that billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded Pell grants nationwide go to students who never earn degrees. Continue reading
Aug 14 PBS NewsHour examines 'The Graduation Gap' By Kyla Calvert Mason Every night next week the PBS NewsHour will take a look at efforts on campuses across the country -- from the University of Texas at Austin to Valencia College in Orlando, Florida -- focused not just getting more low-income, first-generation… Continue reading