ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the evolution of financial aid policies from the GI Bill to the massification of higher education in the 1960s, followed by rapid growth in the 1970s, marketization and endowment in the 1980s, and intensification of neoliberalism in the 1990s into the present. Before World War II, college was regarded as an option only for higher-income students due to its up-front expense and the delay in workforce entry caused by college attendance. The Guaranteed Student Loan program offered student loans from private lenders with lower interest rates than regular private loans. The passage of the Education Amendments of 1972 initiated a period of expansion of federal higher education financial aid policy. In the 1980s, the number of students who were eligible for federal financial aid grew significantly. The chapter concludes with several issues that will continue to influence the finance policy of American higher education over the next decade of the 21st century.
