Higher education experts call for more equitable financial aid reform
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(California News Service) Each spring, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new reports from the Campaign for College Opportunity look at how to make higher ed more affordable. The feds recently launched a simpler financial aid application, but the rollout has been rocky.
DeJa Brown, a student at College of the Desert in California’s Coachella Valley, said programs that help with tuition, books, housing, food and transportation make all the difference.
"If we want to achieve statewide goals like 70 percent college attainment or closing equity gaps, we need to prioritize affordability and revolutionize financial aid," Brown said.
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The first study calls on Congress to better fund Pell Grants, which serve students whose families make under $40,000 a year. It found 32 percent of white students receive a Pell Grant, but that number is 60 percent for Black students, 50 percent for Latino students, 45 percent percent for Native American students, and 39 percent for Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.
Emmanuel Rodriguez, director of policy advocacy for the Institute for College Access and Success, noted that Pell Grants cover less than one-third of the cost of college, and calls on lawmakers to take action.
"They can double the award, they can restore automatic inflation adjustments, they can fund those Pell Grants entirely through mandatory spending. They can expand eligibility to undocumented students, and they can eliminate taxation of the Pell Grant when used to cover any non-tuition costs," he said.
Christopher Nellum, executive director of Education Trust West, coauthored the second brief. It praises California's new law requiring all high school students to fill out applications for federal or state student aid.
"That means there needs to be enough counselors engaging with young folks. We need schools and districts that have meaningful partnerships - with the community college, with the universities in their area," he said.
Studies show that students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, enroll in college at a significantly higher rate than those who do not.
