Conferences & Events

The Student Financial Aid Research Network (SFARN) 40th Annual Conference will be held in person on July 13-14, 2023 at the State University of New Jersey Rutgers. SFARN is the prime venue for leading financial aid researchers to network, seek input, and share expertise with colleagues from colleges and universities, state and federal agencies, membership associations, and other non-profit organizations. The Pell Institute would like you to save the date for this year’s SFARN conference! Applications to present at the conference are now open! We welcome 30 minute sessions focused on new and recently completed research on student financial aid issues such as federal policy changes, college food insecurity, student loan debt, low-income and non-traditional access, and the overarching theme of how students and their families are paying for college. Submit your research here by February 15, 2023 by 11:59 p.m. ET.

This community of practice aims to generate knowledge and evidence about practices that best serve our students. Community members see research, evaluation, and evidence-supported practices as crucial to improving the success of college access and success programs. Members also believe that knowledge, strategies, and techniques developed in the many successful programs around the country should be documented and shared with the larger community of college access and success professionals. Finally, this community hopes to share practical, innovative methods for evaluating the success of each program. Overall, this community of practice functions as a place to facilitate the sharing of ideas, network, and connect institutions in search of ways to support our students’ academic access and success.