BLOOMINGTON ? The best way to make college more affordable is for states to invest more money into need-based financial aid, a recent Indiana University study said.
The report, by the Indiana Education Policy Center at Indiana University, found that spending on need-based aid has a bigger impact on students' decisions to attend college than tuition costs, state demographics and spending on K-12 schools.
The state's role in higher education funding is increasingly important because federal Pell Grants for needy students haven't kept pace with the rising cost of college, said the study's lead author, higher education professor Edward St. John.
''My point is that states need to provide a second tier of aid on top of the Pell Grants,'' he said.
Keeping tuition low also helps college become more affordable, St. John said, but it can be more cost-effective for states to boost need-based aid, letting tuition rise for families who can afford it and providing more help for those who can't.
To boost the number of students attending college, the study suggests funding need-based financial aid programs at a level equal to one-fourth the average cost of tuition at a state university. Officials also could create a federal-state partnership for student aid, providing grants that pay the full cost of tuition for the neediest students.
Researchers said if those measures were in place during the 1990s, up to 2.5 million more students would have attended college.
The study comes at a time when rising tuition costs and stagnant spending on financial aid have led to continuing discussions about college affordability.
At Indiana University, the Indiana Public Interest Research Group launched a lobbying campaign last week aimed at increasing federal student-aid funding and raising the maximum Pell Grant for the first time in three years.
Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan has called on state public colleges and universities to limit in-state tuition increases to four percent for the upcoming school year. Many of the institutions have complied.
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