Financial Aid From the Staff Perspective: A History

• In Event: New Directions in the History of Higher Education

Abstract

Financial aid policy is a microcosm of American political history. As I show in this article, the federal government has used financial aid policy to accomplish different aims based on changing national concerns. The high levels of student loan debt—a direct result of earlier financial aid policy decisions—means that current policy has chiefly focused on reducing these debt burdens. But policies are only half the story: they must be implemented by financial aid practitioners. Here, I re-tell the history of financial aid from the perspective of financial aid staff. Using articles written by and for practitioners as primary sources, I present an alternate history of financial aid and therefore offer a new lens on access to higher education.

Author

• Saralyn McKinnon-Crowley, Baylor University