CALL FOR PAPERS - 23rD ANNUAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID RESEARCH NETWORK CONFERENCE

Hotel KENNEDY PLAZA
PROVIDENCE, RI
June 22 - 24, 2006

The Student Financial Aid Research Network (SFARN) seeks proposals for presentations at the annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Proposals should be based on national, state or institutional level research or inquiries on student aid, college costs, student access, choice, and retention issues, or related matters. The Network is a national association of practitioners and consumers of research and policy analysis on student financial aid. Its members come from state grant and loan agencies, federal agencies, faculties and staff of postsecondary institutions, education associations, and other groups. The Network was created by members of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) and the National Council for Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) to encourage and disseminate research to inform public policies at the state and federal levels.

Proposals may be for individual papers or panel discussions. The conference is organized in plenary sessions (with between 100 and 130 participants) and individual presentations are usually limited to 30 minutes, while panels may be up to one hour. To help you better understand the breadth of topics covered, a list of selected titles from past conference presentations is attached. Papers on economic diversity and economic segregation in higher education—such as admission and enrollment trends for low-income students, and institutional and state programs, etc—will receive special attention this year.

Please send a one-page abstract of your proposal by February 24, 2006 to:

Colleen T. O’Brien
The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education
1025 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 1020 / Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-638-2887, ext. 206 / Fax: 202-638-3808

Email:colleen.obrien@pellinstitute.org or ctob68@yahoo.com

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The SFARN Planning Committee regrets that our budget does not allow us to waive the nominal Conference registration fee for persons selected to make presentations. However, we do have “tuition remission” grants available for graduate students who may wish to present papers.

Registration materials will be sent in March to all of those on the Network mailing list. If you are not on the list, please email your name and contact information to the Pell Institute addresses above.

Selected Agenda Topics from Recent Research Network Conferences

• Retrenchment, Recovery: State Higher Education Funding and Student Financial Aid
• State Early Commitment Financial Aid Programs
• Kentucky: Merit Aid Matures to Compliment Need-Based Aid
• The First Cohort of Tennessee Merit-Based Scholarship Recipients
• A 15 Year Follow-up Study of State Grant Recipients in Iowa
• Findings from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2004
• How Students Pay for Postsecondary Education in 12 States
• Transitions to College: From Theory to Practice
• Federal Student Aid and the Sub-Baccalaureate Completion of Low-Income and Adult-Learner Students
• College Access Policies: Aspirations, Preparation, and Affordability
• Independent Undergraduates: 1999-2000
• Private Scholarship Aid: Does It Make a Difference
• Student Debt: How Much Education Debt Is Too Much?
• Global Higher Education Report: Affordability and Accessibility in Comparative Perspective
• Who? When? Where? How Many? How Much? Estimating Impact of Federal Student Aid Proposals
• The HEA Reauthorization: Priorities of Higher Education Policy Analysts and Researchers
• First Year Findings from Future to Discover: A Longitudinal Study of the Effectiveness of Intervention
• Assessing the Impact of Institutional Grants or Price Discounts
• Paying for College in Washington and Minnesota
• Who Is Knocking at the College Door?
• Students with Disabilities in Postsecondary Education
• Defaults by Degree
• Trends in Undergraduate Persistence and Completion
• Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship Program: A Baseline Evaluation
• Adopting and Implementing the University of North Carolina Grant Program
• Retention Strategies at HBCUs and Their Effects on Cohort Default Rates
• The Effects of Race, Class, Gender, and Aid on Where Students Graduate
• The Future of Higher Education in Missouri
• College Affordability: Overlooked Long-term Trends and 50- State Patterns
• The Experiences of Recent Alumni from Tribal Colleges and HBCUs
• Deeper in Debt: The Impact of Increased Debtload on Student Persistence
  Low-Income Students: Who They Are and How They Pay for Their Education
• Institutional Aid in the 1990s: The Consequences of Policy Connections
• Assessing the Effectiveness of State Grants in Indiana
• Enhancing Participation in Postsecondary Education: The New State Scholarship Goal
• The Stopout Story: First-Year College Leavers Who Return Within Five Years
• Increasing College Access or Just Increasing Debt? The Problem with Raising Student Loan Limits
• Financial Aid Is Not Enough: Improving the Odds of College Success
• How Women and People of Color Pay for College
• The Role of Parents in College Financing and Enrollment
• Promises to Keep: What California Needs to Know and Do to Expand Higher Education Opportunity
  Student Credit Card Use: The Perils of Plastic
• State Merit Grants: Do They Promote Access to Higher Education?
• College Access in Minnesota: Impacts of Financial Aid on Students, Markets, and Policy
• The Impact of State Merit-based Aid on College Enrollment
• For All Who Have Interest and Potential to Learn: Perspectives of New Jersey Part-Time Students
• Illinois Initiatives to Meet the Needs of Adult Learners
• Persistence and Attainment of Beginning Students with Pell Grants
• Getting Through College: Voices of Low-Income and Minority Students in New England

Over 140 researchers, analysts, and policy experts attended the 22nd SFARN Conference in Chicago. The Windy City proved to be a great host for the two- and a half-day conference, which featured excellent presentations on new and recently completed research on some of the most prominent issues in student aid today—merit-based scholarships, student loan debt, low-income and non-traditional access, trends in state aid programs, and the overarching theme of how students and their families are paying for college.

We were fortunate to have Michael McPherson, President of the Spencer Foundation and former President of Macalaster College, join us as a luncheon speaker. Mike offered his observations on recent trends in public and private higher education finance. His many years as an analyst of cost, price, and student aid issues made the Q & A session a highlight of the conference.

Once again, this gathering provided a great opportunity for some of the leading financial aid researchers to network, seek input, and share expertise with their colleagues. This year’s crowd was the largest ever, combining some longtime attendees and old friends, with several new faces and nearly half a dozen graduate students. We hope this blend of experience and enthusiasm continues in conferences to come.

Through the power of technology, you can download the presentations from this year’s conference by clicking here. We have provided email addresses for the presenters to encourage you to contact them with any questions or comments you may have, extending the collegiality that is so special among this group.

We hope to announce information about the 23rd Annual Conference by this Fall. We encourage you to let us know of any potential scheduling conflicts—we will try to keep them in mind as we move forward in the planning process. Be sure to sign up for the mailing list if you are not already on it to make sure you get all notices about future conferences.

I would like to once again thank all of the presenters and participants for their thoughtful contributions. Special thanks to the Planning Committee and my colleagues at the Pell Institute and COE for their efforts in helping make our first conference such a success.

See you next year-

| 22nd Annual Info | Presentations | Presenter Bios |

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Sponsored by Council for Opportunity in Education