Condition of Access: Higher Education for Lower Income Students

Price signals received by lower income students, as well as educational decisions those price signals are prompting, have potentially serious consequences. Heller asserts that increased access to higher education institutions for lower income students must be established as a national priority--as an implicit promise to lower income families. This book clearly outlines the gap in college participation between rich and poor, stimulating discussion of barriers to postsecondary education for the most needy students. A group of expert researchers, led by Donald Heller, use the most recent research available to discuss the state of access to America's higher education institutions for lower income students. They examine the postsecondary education patterns of lower income students in the U.S. Also considered is the status of student aid programs. Academic and social factors that help prepare a student to remain in the higher education system are considered, along with demographic trends facing the nation and recommendations for moving the country toward the ideals of the Truman Commission of the mid-twentieth century.