College Financial Aid and the Employee Tuition Benefit Programs of the Fortune 500 Companies.

Ways are discussed that internal changes in pricing, tuition collection, and cash-flow management might be sources of financial aid for college students ineligible for state and federal assistance programs. The experiences described are the result of two FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) projects, one dealing with "unbundling," the other with tuition deferral and installment programs for working adults. The first part of this report examines the issue of whether the traditional tuition pricing system based on credit hours could be made equitable for part-time working adults, and how internal changes in pricing, tuition, and cash management could provide aid. This practice is called "unbundling," since it can untie from the traditional pricing system a range of traditional ancillary and student services that the nontraditional student may not wish to use or pay for. The second section examines the possible uses of unbundling to improve or assess quality in part-time education. It asks what advantages and disadvantages might accrue if institutions were to quote separate prices for instruction, assessment of direct instruction, counseling, certification, and other services. Unbundling is also viewed as a consumer protection measure. In the third section results in a 1980 survey of the "Fortune 500" companies on their employee tuition assistance programs and policies are reported. Responses from 361 companies to the questionnaire (which is included) are charted, without narrative analysis. The questionnaire elicited responses about the companies' policies on eligibility, kinds of courses allowed, dollar limits, course-load limits, and aid payment timing. (MSE)