Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Student & Administrator Factsheet
What Works for Today’s Students: Connecting Students to Means-Tested Benefits
Students facing basic needs insecurities are significantly less likely to leave college without completing an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. Today’s students show a great deal of resilience in the face of adversity—but succeeding in an academic environment is extremely difficult without access to basic needs, like food and shelter. The federal government has various programs…
Read More101: Students & Means Tested Programs
Every year, more than one million students drop out—70 percent do so because of financial insecurity, which is disproportionately felt by low-income students. That’s where means-tested benefit programs and income supports can help. Means-tested federal and state programs help millions of low-income Americans access housing, food, health care, child care, and more. But the myriad…
Read MoreToday’s Students Returning Adults Factsheet
Adult students make up a growing share of today’s students, including adults returning to school, who are likely to be in their late 20s or 30s. View the factsheet here.
Read MoreGainful Employment 101
Is higher education worth the investment? While some factors—the cost of attendance and time to earn a degree or credential—are clear, the outcomes students can expect after completing higher learning programs are difficult to determine. Gainful employment is one tool that, if implemented properly, would allow potential students access to the information they need to…
Read MoreToday’s Students Mental Health Factsheet
Many of today’s students face mental health challenges while in college, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse. Check out HLA’s new factsheet to learn more about today’s students’ mental health challenges while in college. View the factsheet here.
Read MoreEnsuring Equity: Policy Recommendations to Increase the Diversity of Selective Public Institutions of Higher Education
Not all institutions of higher education are equal—in their funding, resources, or student outcomes. Selective public institutions, typically defined as those with lower acceptance rates and high graduation rates compared to other public institutions, often offer the best odds for their students to succeed. Enrollment at selective institutions is correlated with student success, including higher…
Read MoreFactsheet: Equity Gaps in Higher Education
There is a significant and persistent disparity in educational attainment between different groups of students. Equity gaps between students of different races and ethnicities often begin in K-12 education—87 percent of white students graduate high school on time, compared to 76 percent of Hispanic and 73 percent of African Americans students. These gaps—the results of…
Read MoreThe Playbook for Today’s Students
Higher learning is the ticket to economic opportunity for Americans, as well as to rebuilding our country’s economy. But we are failing too many of today’s students. Fewer than 67% of Americans enter a higher education program, and of those, only 60 percent finish with a credential. A large-scale overhaul of higher education policy is…
Read MoreWhat Works for Today’s Students: Increasing Diversity at Selective Institutions
Low-income, Black, and Latinx students are underrepresented at selective colleges and universities. Only 34 percent of low-income students with high standardized test scores will enroll at the nation’s most selective colleges, compared to 78 percent of students in the highest economic quartile. And only 19 percent of Black and Latinx students with high test scores…
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