Rethinking Student Aid

Sandy Baum is an independent policy analyst for the College Board and Professor of Economics Emerita at Skidmore College. Baum earned her B.A. in sociology at Bryn Mawr College and her Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University. She has written extensively on issues relating to college access, college pricing, student aid policy, student debt, affordability, and other aspects of higher education finance.

Baum is the co-author of the Trends in Higher Education series, and Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. Other recent work includes studies of setting benchmarks for manageable student debt levels and of tuition discounting in public and private colleges and universities. She co-chaired the Rethinking Student Aid study group, which recently issued comprehensive proposals for reform of the federal student aid system.