An array of troubling trends, including decreasing grant aid, changing demographics, and competition among colleges, are combining to reduce college opportunity for America's fastest growing and most disadvantaged populations, according to a new report by the Institute of Higher Education Policy.
Convergence: Trends Threatening to Narrow College Opportunity in America highlights many well-documented trends at the federal, state, and institutional levels that direct more financial aid to upper-income students, make financial aid less effective against rising tuitions, and force students to take on more debt.
The report highlights factors that are converging to reduce low-income and minority student access to college:
- The purchasing power of the maximum Pell Grant is diminishing.
- State spending on merit-based aid increased more than four times faster than need-based aid during the decade ending in 2004.
- Institutions are using merit-based aid to compete for high-achieving students, who are less likely to be from low-income and minority families.
- Competition among institutions has led to greater spending on services and facilities, driving up tuition.
- Public institutions are more reliant on tuition to accommodate increased expenditures and compensate for decreased state funding. Some public institutions are seeking more autonomy to gain greater independence to set tuition rates.
- Programs that encourage low-income and minority students to attend and complete college are threatened by budget cuts and possible elimination.
"Until now, these previously identified trends have been discussed largely in isolation. However, we found that when taken together, the convergence and interaction among them has a much greater impact than each separately might suggest," said Jamie Merisotis, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. "Our goal is to make it clear that the train wreck of declining opportunity is coming, and that action needs to be taken now by a broad coalition of partners in order to achieve the widest possible participation in higher education."
The report asserts that the trend towards increasing emphasis on merit-based aid is troubling, but by itself will not shut off low-income access to college. However, it reveals a serious threat to the future of college access when combined with increased tuition, reduced Pell Grant value, the possible reduction or elimination of programs that encourage low-income and minority college participation, and higher debt levels.
The report recommends a strong partnership among local, state, and federal lawmakers, students and parents, private business, the media, college leaders and faculty, and higher education associations to develop a coordinated strategy on higher education and invest resources to ensure college opportunity is available to students who could not attend without financial aid.
The report offers several suggestions to reverse the current trends in financial aid, including the following:
- States should limit tuition increases at public institutions that are greater than the state's average increase in family income.
- States should distribute the majority of student aid through programs based on need.
- Programs should reward public colleges for attracting and retaining low-income and minority students.
- Institutions should allocate the majority of financial aid to qualified students who lack the financial resources to attend college.
- Federal lawmakers should use technology to improve the student aid application system and redirect resources used to provide the Hope Scholarship tax credit to increase Pell Grants.
- Federal lawmakers should improve college persistence by rewarding colleges that work to improve the success rates of students who have traditionally been underserved by higher education and providing incentives for colleges that devote funding to help these students graduate.
- Federal lawmakers should strengthen the capacity of Minority Serving Institutions by expanding the scope and funding levels of Title III and Title V of the Higher Education Act and investing in programs that encourage minority participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.
- The private sector should be encouraged to invest in need-based aid through programs like Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) and tying privately funded scholarships to programs that encourage low-income students to attend and complete college.
- The Partnership should develop and disseminate more information to inform the public about why higher education pays off.
These recommendations would focus resources on students who would not otherwise attend and/or complete college and would expand existing programs that encourage success, according to the report.
"In these times of increasing concern about homeland security, global competitiveness and national economic growth, we must invest in what we know works best - supporting students who otherwise would not be able to go to college," the report states. "That investment is the best way to achieve prosperity, security and harmony for all Americans."
By Haley Chitty
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications
Posted April 14, 2006 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Copyright 2006. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited
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