THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, DIRECT FINANCIAL AID, AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

This article examines federal student financial aid, with an emphasis on direct grant aid programs to serve needy students attending community colleges. It describes the economic, historical, and political assumptions and incentives to show how public community colleges and their students have been impacted by federal and state direct student aid policies. The article then presents recent data regarding how economic incentives inherent in federal and state direct student aid policies impact public community colleges and their students when compared to other types of institutions of postsecondary education. Data presented show that lower-income students attending public community colleges were likely to receive less direct grant aid from federal and state sources than those attending for-profit proprietary two-year institutions.