How Much Can Families Afford to Pay for College?
This is a preliminary draft and may not have been subjected to the formal review process of the NBER. This page will be updated as the chapter is revised.
This chapter studies the capacity to pay for college in the United States, focusing on changes over time and differences by race and socioeconomic status. I use data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) to document changes over time in the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). I then use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to calculate alternative measures of the ability to pay for college.