"In a report on their study released today, ... researchers report that their experiment -- in which tax preparers at H&R Block helped some low- and moderate income clients fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid using existing financial data from the Internal Revenue Service -- significantly boosted the rate at which participants in the program applied for financial aid, the number who received aid and the amount they got, and the proportion of participants who enrolled in college," Inside Higher Ed reports. "The researchers found significant effects for students coming straight out of high school and for adults with no prior college experience. 'The results of the H&R Block FAFSA experiment are unambiguously positive in terms of the effects of simplifying the financial aid application process combined with providing individualized aid eligibility information,' write the authors, economists all: Eric P. Bettinger of Stanford University, Bridget Terry Long of Harvard University, and Philip Oreopoulos of the University of Toronto."

You can read the complete Sept. 23, 2009 Inside Higher Ed article on-line.

Additional Media Coverage

Simplifying Financial-Aid Process Improves College Access, Study Finds The Chronicle of Higher Education

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