The Assessing Tuition- and Debt-Free Higher Education Task Force was convened in July 2016. Charged by NASFAA’s Board of Directors with evaluating the existing landscape of state and local promise programs with a focus on scaling such models to the national level, the task force researched the details of current and proposed programs and consulted with experts in the field to inform its deliberations.
In its final report, the task force offered considerations for promise program creators to keep in mind in developing future federal, state, or local plans. Those considerations included:
- Reflecting upon who bears primary responsibility for financing higher education
- Pondering the benefits of early awareness and messaging of college affordability
- Factoring in capacity issues if promise programs will increase demand
- Weighing the potential impact of promise programs on different types of institutions of higher education
- Coordinating federal, state, local, and private resources
- Comparing the implications of making promise program funds first dollar vs. last dollar sources of aid
- Examining the role of existing federal student aid programs in a tuition-free or debt-free college environment
- Deciding upon best use of limited resources and intended beneficiaries
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