Di Xu is a Research Assistant at the Community College Research Center and is currently a doctoral student in Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her Bachelors in English Literature from Peking University, China and holds a Masters in Sociology and Education from Teachers College and a Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her research interests include economic returns to higher education, financial aid to higher education, and the use of quantitative research methods in evaluating the effects of governmental policies or projects on educational equity and efficiency.