The impact of financial aid on women's demand for higher education

The Educational Amendments of 1972 marked a new direction in public policy regarding the scope and purpose of financial aid to higher education. Aid became more student-oriented, and equality of opportunity for higher education became a goal. This empirical study with national longitudinal data has made a start in policy evaluation of the effect of the 1972 Educational Amendments on the higher education acquired by young women. The most important result of financial aid receipt for young women is that those who received aid averaged 0.64 more years completed of higher education and averaged .145 greater graduation probability than similar women who did not receive aid. These results were obtained in multiple regression models in which the effects of marital status, parental background, geographic locations and economic characteristics, and tuition level were controlled for. These results suggest that policy attempts to stimulate the higher education acquired by enrolled young women by increasing the availability of financial aid are well founded.