Changing Patterns in Student Financing of Higher Education.
Student financing of higher education has undergone major change since prices began to rise rapidly and the Education Amendments were passed in the early 1970s. Presently, the major thrust is to lower the government role in student financing and to raise the student role. Debate has centered on whether parents are more or less able, and willing, to finance their offspring; whether, in fact, tuition prices have risen in constant dollars; whether (and which) students have been more or less able to finance themselves; whether (and for whom) debt reliance has increased; and finally what role student grants and scholarships have come to play in student financing, and which students have benefited most? This article addresses these and related questions through examining changes over time in the amounts financed by students enrolled in higher education and in the changing sources of student funds. The article shows how various student groups, for example, racial minorities, part-time attenders, low-income youth, males and females, differ from one another in these regards and how these patterns impact upon the various institutional categories. For example, how does student financing at public and private and two-year and four-year institutions compare? The major findings are as follows: