myBama
UA Education Policy Center
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RESEARCH FOCUS

Postsecondary Finance
& Student Aid

Research on the public investment that makes college possible.

From four decades of Pell Grant analysis to state appropriations,

promise programs, and community college funding models, this

work traces how affordability policy shapes access across the Nation

Postsecondary Finance & Student Aid

What This Research Covers

Three threads run through this work:

Pell Grants & Need-Based Aid

Tracking the reach and real value of the Pell Grant across states and regions, and what its erosion means for low-income students.

Community College Finance

Examining the funding models, revenue pressures, and access consequences facing the open-door institutions that serve the most students.

State Investment & Affordability Policy

Analyzing state appropriations, promise and scholarship programs, and how recessions and federal relief reshape the price students pay.

The Widening College Access Gap: Pell Grant Disinvestment and Declining Student Enrollment in the South

Bray; Johnson; Katsinas; Shadduck
October 2025

Declining Pell Support at Community Colleges Since the Great Recession

Katsinas; Keeney; Bray; Kelly
Winter 2023

Emerging from COVID-19: The 2022 Report of Finance and Access Issues

Bray; Till; D’Amico; Katsinas
Winter 2023

A Lottery-Funded Alabama College Promise & Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Program

Bowen; Corley
December 2020

COVID-19, CARES, and
Public Higher Education in 2020-2021 and Beyond: A View from 38 States

Katsinas; Jacobs; Bray
October 2020

On Opportunity’s Fault Line: The Precarious Nature of Community College Finance

Katsinas; Malley; Warner
February 2016

After the Great Recession: Higher Education’s New Normal

Katsinas; D’Amico; Friedel; Adair; Warner; Malley
January 2016

Oregon Pell Grants: Women Raise Rural Vigor

Mensel; Malley; Thomas
August 2014

Halfway Out of Recession, But a Long Way to Go

Katsinas; Lacey; Adair; Koh; D’Amico; Fridel
November 2013

Performance-Based Funding:
The National Landscape

Friedel; Thornton; D’Amico; Katsinas
September 2013

Maine’s Pell Grants: Heavy Lifting

Mensel; Malley; Thomas
September 2013

The Impact of New Pell Grant Restrictions
on Community Colleges:
A Three State Study of
Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi

Katsinas; Davis; Fridel; Koh; Grant
2013

Pell Grant’s Vital Role in Lifting up Mississippi

Katsinas; Davis; Koh; Grant
December 2012

A Study of Pell Grants in Alabama

Katsinas; Bray; Koh; Grant
November 2012

The Growing Impact of New Pell Grant Funding:
A Statewide Profile of
Wyoming’s Community Colleges

Katsinas; Hagedorn; Mensel; Friedel et al.
March 2012

The Growing Impact of New Pell Grant Funding:
A Statewide Profile of Colorado’s Community Colleges

Katsinas; Hagedorn; Mensel; Friedel et al.
March 2012

The Growing Impact of New Pell Grant Funding:
A Statewide Profile of Florida’s Community Colleges

Katsinas; Hagedorn; Mensel; Friedel et al.
March 2012

The Growing Impact of New Pell Grant Funding:
A Statewide Profile of Iowa’s Community Colleges

Katsinas; Hagedorn; Mensel; Friedel et al.
June 2011