This report presents the policy options for legislative action that were adopted by the California Postsecondary Education Commission at its December 12, 2006, meeting. In adopting these policy options the Commission reviewed findings and recommendations from a Special Panel on Affordability composed of experts and stakeholders appointed by the Commission to examine college affordability in California. The report of the special panel is attached ("Keeping College Affordable in California. A Report of the Special Panel on Affordability to the California Postsecondary Education Commission"). The Commission also considered policy options based on research and expert information compiled by the Commission's staff. Many of the college affordability policy options adopted by the Commission were informed by the work of the panel, but also reflect findings of the Commission based on additional expert sources as well. Appended are: (1) Cost of Attendance, Gift Aid, and Loan Statistics for Need-Based Aid Recipients in Constant Dollars; (2) Dependent Full-Time Undergraduate Students NPSAS Data Indexed to 2005-06; and (3) CSU Comparable Institutions. (Contains 5 displays.).

California's Master Plan for Higher Education represented a promise, of an affordable college education, to every person who could benefit. For decades, California's lawmakers honored that promise. Rapidly increasing college fees, coupled with higher costs for room and board, books, transportation, and healthcare are pricing students out of higher education or burdening them with excessive debt. This anthology of the California Postsecondary Education Commission's research provides insights into why college is less affordable and what California's leaders can do to make higher education affordable once again. There are five Commission documents in this anthology. These include: (1) Recommended Policy Options and a Panel Report on College Affordability (Report 06-22, December 2006); (2) Keeping College Affordable in California: A Report of the Special Panel on Affordability to the California Postsecondary Education Commission (December 2006); (3) Developing a Statewide Higher Education Affordability Policy (June 2006); (4) Development of a New Commission Policy on Higher Education Affordability: A Set of Principles; and (5) Resident Undergraduate Student Fees -- Issues and Options (March 2006).

This book assesses the role of government subsidies for higher education -- especially but not exclusively federal student aid -- in keeping college affordable for Americans of all economic and social backgrounds. The authors examine the effects of student aid policies of the last twenty years.

This report highlights the affordability gaps faced by California's community colleges. Despite the lowest tuition in the country and tuition waivers for the lowest-income students, many California students struggle to afford the total cost of education, which includes housing, food, health care, and textbooks. And although California students are generally lower-income than students in other states, fewer of them receive financial aid. As a result, students in California take fewer classes and work longer hours than do students in other states. The report urges strengthening financial aid programs, increasing student utilization of existing financial aid, and using revenues from modest tuition increases to support programs to improve student success. It also cites some practices, including the Board Financial Assistance Program (BFAP), that have been successful in assisting more students in receiving financial aid. Continued research into effective community college financial aid practices is being conducted by another grantee, the Institute for College Access and Success. The following are appended: (1) Textbook Costs and Strategies to Contain Them; and (2) Rough Cost Projections for Cal Grant and Fee Matching Funds Policy Recommendations. (Contains 65 footnotes, 8 figures, and 16 tables.).