In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (abstract here), Susan Dynarski of the University of Michigan and Judith Scott-Clayton of Columbia University's Teachers College scan 50 years of financial aid practice and research to "review what is known and what is not known about how well various student aid programs work," they write.
Key takeaways? Money matters for college access; students loans can be effective if they're structured well; academic incentives can work.
Read this helpful study
here.