A N N O U N C E M E N T
        ACSFA TO FOCUS ON ACCESS FOR LOW-INCOME STUDENTS IN 2000
 The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance is an independent committee  created by the Higher Education Amendments of 1986.  The Advisory Committee  advises Congress and the Department of Education on student aid policy and  recommends improvements in federal student aid program structure and delivery  "to maintain access for low- and middle-income students."  The Advisory Committee will examine the condition of access for low-income  students.  It is very important that the Advisory Committee continue to  play an active role in ensuring that the higher education community conduct  an open and honest dialogue about the current condition of access before  focusing on other matters, because the nation has yet to solve the access  problem.    The Advisory Committee held two round table discussions on ensuring access for  low-income students in the year 2000.  The Committee's April 1999 meeting in  Oxford, Mississippi provided a unique opportunity to engage in a national  policy discussion on long-term issues that are central to the federal role  of providing access to postsecondary education. College presidents and  national policy experts discussed several misconceptions and their implications  for federal policy.  Panelists concluded that while postsecondary education  is accessible to the majority of American youth, there is still room for  improvement--especially for the nation's low-income students. Click here to read  the complete proceedings.
 The Committee's April 2000 meeting in Boston, Massachusetts established once  again, empirically, that there is still considerable room for improvement  for the nation's lowest income students.  The discussions centered on:   postsecondary participation by low-income students; Title IV student aid,  net price and unmet need; state and institutional aid; and stratification  of students by institutional type/program type.  Panelists' testimony is available on the Committee's web site on our Access page.   In keeping with our charge, the Committee will commission a series of papers by  leading higher education researchers on the condition of access for low-income  students and deliver the report along with recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of Education next year.