South By North Strategies, Ltd.

A new report from Demos lays out a case for strengthening grant programs that assist students attending community colleges.

As this brief highlights, low-income students receive less grant aid at community colleges than at four-year public universities. Community colleges are often the best and only choice for students and low-income students should not be penalized for attending these institutions. In addition,grant dollars should be used in ways that have the most impact on student success—grant aid has a larger impact on the retention and completion rates of low-income students than on high performing students. The Pell Grant, for example, is associated with reducing the likelihood a student will drop out of college. Research has also found that grant aid can be used to influence students’ performance.