Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction / Caroline M. Hoxby -- Going to college and finishing college : explaining different educational outcomes / Sarah E. Turner -- The new merit aid / Susan Dunarski -- The impact of Federal tax credits for higher education expenses / Bridget Terry Long -- Education savings incentives and household saving : evidence from the 2000 TIAA-CREF Survey of Participant Finances / Jennifer Ma -- How financial aid affects persistence / Eric Bettinger -- Do and should financial aid packages affect students' college choices? / Christopher Avery, Caroline M. Hoxby -- Resident and nonresident tuition and enrollment at flagship state universities / Michael J. Rizzo, Ronald G. Ehrenberg -- Student perceptions of college opportunities : the Boston COACH Program / Christopher Avery, Thomas J. Kane -- Peer effects in higher education / Gordon C. Winston, David J. Zimmerman.

Aspiring college students and their families have many options. A student can attend an in-state or an out-of-state school, a public or private college, a two-year community college program or a four-year university program. Students can attend full-time and have a bachelor of arts degree by the age of twenty-three or mix college and work, progressing toward a degree more slowly. To make matters more complicated, the array of financial aid available is more complex than ever. Students and their families must weigh federal grants, state merit scholarships, college tax credits, and college savin.