The University of Southern California's Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) has released a one page series of challenges and solutions on how to improve the financial aid process for low-income students. According to CHEPA, the recommendations are low-cost actions that will lead to significant increases in college access for underrepresented youth.
CHEPA outlines several challenges that affect low-income students, such as low awareness about the financial aid process, lack of available tools to apply for aid, inflexible time limits for students to apply for aid, and a general lack of information by high school staff about special populations, i.e., undocumented immigrants and foster care students.
Low-income students have been the focus of many outreach activities in recent years. Rather than creating access, the student aid process often creates a series of barriers by providing poor information, difficult forms, and burdensome verification requirements. For example, filling out the FAFSA is daunting enough, but low-income students and families that are Pell eligible are often required to submit even more information to document or verify their poverty.
"The idea of student assistance is to provide access to those students who otherwise would not be able to attend college, and requiring those students to do even more work to apply for aid is counterintuitive to its purpose" says Tim Christensen, NASFAA vice president for planning & development.
The CHEPA analysis recommends that much more be done at the high school level to increase access for low-income students. CHEPA provides the following specific recommendations to address some of the challenges facing underrepresented youth:
- To raise financial aid awareness, require high school students to pass an online quiz about the costs of college and the different types of financial aid that can be used to defray those costs
- Give each high school student a school-authorized e-mail account and Internet access to be able to apply for financial aid
- Make obtaining a FAFSA PIN part of the high school curriculum
- Require, as part of the graduation process, that each student complete an application for some sort of financial aid - federal, state, or private aid
- Educate high school guidance counselors about special populations (illegal immigrants and foster care youth) and the special programs that are available to those students
"Practical solutions to these challenges, like those offered by CHEPA, are exactly what we in the financial aid community need to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity for higher education," says Christensen.
On an ongoing basis, NASFAA continues to work with and promote organizations like CHEPA that are focusing on student access to higher education. If you or your organization are working on other college access initiatives, please let us know at Web@nasfaa.org.
By Justin Draeger
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications
Posted 03/01/07 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
