Each year millions of adults participate in organized learning in the United States, in a wide range of venues. In 1999, an estimated 90 million persons 16 and older reported that they had participated in some sort of formal learning activity, ranging from personal development courses—such as family genealogy or cooking classes—to apprenticeship and advanced degree programs. Much of this learning takes place outside of formal credential programs that confer a certificate or degree—-most often in the workplace, where employers offer classes for job-specific skills, or in the many courses offered by postsecondary institutions that are not part of a credential program, such as a continuing education class. Enrolling in a certificate or degree program at a postsecondary institution is an important opportunity, however, for millions of adults who seek personal growth, or advancement in their working lives. In the 1999-2000 academic year, an estimated 7.1 million adults were enrolled as undergraduates in the nation’s postsecondary institutions, comprising about 40 percent of all undergraduate students. About three- quarters of these adult undergraduates were between the ages of 24 to 40, while about one-quarter were 41 or older. Compared with undergraduate students under the age of 24, adult students enrolled in 1999-2000 were more likely to be working full time (35 or more hours per week), to be married, to have dependents, and to lack a conventional high school diploma. (See table 1.) While the majority of undergraduates under the age of 24 were enrolled in baccalaureate programs, adult undergraduate students were primarily enrolled in certificate or associate programs in 1999-2000. Most adult students (55 percent) were enrolled at 2-year public institutions, while another 22 percent were enrolled in a public 4-year institution, and 10 percent were enrolled in private 4-year institutions. The remaining adult students were enrolled at proprietary schools, such as culinary or beauty schools, or a combination of different types of institutions. A range of public and private funding sources is available to adults to assist them in meeting the costs sometimes associated with formal learning, including employer-provided educational assistance, federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, higher education tax credits, and federal WIA and TANF funds. In the 1999-2000 academic year, adult students received about $3.3 billion in grant assistance and $8.5 billion in loan assistance from programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act. To receive federal financial aid, students must meet several eligibility requirements, including being enrolled in a degree or certificate program, and maintaining satisfactory academic progress. Institutions are required to establish qualitative and quantitative criteria of satisfactory progress, and to monitor student progress. Taken together, these requirements help to ensure that Title IV funds are used in ways that benefit both students and the larger public, rather than purely recreational or leisure activities. Postsecondary institutions must also meet eligibility requirements to participate in Title IV programs, including legal authorization by the state in which they offer postsecondary education, accreditation by a nationally recognized accrediting agency, and limiting regular admission to individuals with a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent.Institutional eligibility requirements help to ensure that participating institutions provide students with quality education or training. Programs authorized under Title IV include Pell Grants for low-income students and Stafford Loans. Stafford loans may be either subsidized or unsubsidized. If the loan is subsidized, the federal government pays the interest cost of the loan for the time a student is enrolled in school. If the loan is unsubsidized, the borrower is responsible for paying interest during the life of the loan. Title IV also authorizes programs funded by the federal government and administered by participating higher education institutions, commonly known as campus-based aid—Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants, Perkins loans, and federal work-study aid. Students who apply for Title IV aid must do so using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Information from the FAFSA is used to determine the amount of money that the adult student is expected to contribute to his or her own education, called the expected family contribution (EFC). Statutory definitions establish the criteria that students must meet to be considered independent of their parents for purposes of financial aid, and statutory formulas establish the share of income and assets that are expected to be available for the student’s education. Once the EFC is established, it is compared to the cost of attendance at the institution chosen by the student. As table 2 indicates, the elements included in the student’s cost of attendance for the purpose of calculating the Pell Grant award vary according to the extent of their enrollment. If the EFC is greater than the cost of attendance, the student is not considered to have financial need for federal Title IV aid programs. If the cost of attendance is greater than the EFC, then the student is considered to have financial need. Pell Grant awards are calculated by subtracting the student’s EFC from the maximum Pell Grant award. Maximum Pell Grant awards are prorated by the student’s enrollment intensity: students attending less than halftime are eligible to receive one-quarter of the maximum Pell Grant award. In 1999-2000, the maximum Pell Grant award was $3,125 for fulltime students, while the maximum award for a less-than- halftime student was $781. The maximum subsidized Stafford loan award is equal to the student’s calculated financial need, subject to statutory limits on annual and cumulative borrowing. The maximum unsubsidized Stafford loan award is equal to the student’s cost of attendance, subject to statutory limits on annual and cumulative borrowing. Adult students also received financial aid from states, postsecondary institutions, and other federal sources. In 1999-2000, states awarded a total of $975 million to adult students enrolled in undergraduate education, typically on the basis of estimated financial need. However, about half of the states did not have aid programs in which adults enrolled less than halftime were eligible to participate. Postsecondary institutions awarded $941 million in aid to adult undergraduate students in 1999-2000, often on the basis of considerations other than financial need. Sources of federal assistance other than Title IV aid were available to adult undergraduates, the largest of which was Montgomery GI Bill assistance. About $1 billion was available to the nation’s veterans and eligible service members through the Montgomery GI Bill. Financial assistance was also available to adult students from work- related sources—through two federal higher education tax credits and from employer-provided educational assistance. Employers may pay postsecondary educational expenses directly, or indirectly through employee reimbursement, and they are encouraged to do so by the federal tax code, which provides favorable tax treatment for these benefits. In 1999-2000, employers provided $1.28 billion in assistance to adult students enrolled in undergraduate postsecondary education, most often to those workers who were most likely to increase company productivity or profitability as a result of their education, such as high-skill, high-demand workers and managers.Employees were usually required by employers to meet a number of conditions to obtain this educational assistance— such as a minimum length of service—but were not obligated to enroll in degree or certificate programs, or to complete their studies. Assistance was also available to students through two federal higher education tax credits, the HOPE and Lifetime Learning tax credits. Tax filers on their own behalf, or on behalf of a spouse or dependent may claim both credits, and both are nonrefundable: if the filer has no tax liability, they cannot receive the credit. Eligibility for the HOPE credit is limited to students who are enrolled halftime or more in a degree or certificate program, and in their first 2 years of postsecondary education. In contrast to both the HOPE tax credit and the Stafford student loan programs, the Lifetime Learning tax credit may be used by tax filers who enroll for any number of credits, and for any course that aids in learning new or improving existing job skills, including those that are not part of a degree or certificate program. Additionally, tax filers may use the credit for as many years as they are enrolled, without regard to degree progress or completion. Tax filers use all qualified tuition and fees—minus any tax-free educational assistance received—to compute the credits. In 1999-2000, all of the first $1,000 and half of the next $1,000 of qualified education expenses per student could be used to compute the HOPE credit, for a maximum credit of $1,500. In 1999-2000, each tax filer could use 20 percent of the first $5,000 in qualified educational expenses to compute the Lifetime Learning credit for a maximum credit of $1,000. The Lifetime Learning credit permits tax filers to combine their own expenses and those of their spouse and dependents. For taxpayers filing jointly, both credits were initially phased out at $80,000 adjusted gross income, and fully phased out at $100,000. Federal programs authorized by WIA and PRWORA may also provide some adults with assistance in meeting the costs of postsecondary education. Under WIA, adults and dislocated workers may be eligible to receive job training after it is determined that they are unlikely to get a job leading to self-sufficiency without such training. WIA funds may be used for postsecondary training only for expenses remaining after the receipt of Pell Grant and other sources of assistance. Furthermore, state and local workforce investment boards are authorized to establish limits on the amount of time or the amount of WIA funds that may be used to meet training expenses. Under PRWORA, block grants are made to states, which may use these funds to assist TANF recipients in meeting costs associated with vocational training or education, including postsecondary education. These costs may include tuition and fees, childcare, and transportation.