Process in obtaining grants simplifies
National initiative to encourage more college students to apply for grants as well as create a simpler way to apply for grants is in process, said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
“We want to help students not just go to college, but graduate,” Duncan said. “Because of investments the president has made in the PELL Grant office, the average grant has gone up by $1,000.”
President of the College Board Gaston Paperton said 56 percent of college students graduate in six years, and 27 percent of those students do so in a community college. He said he is sure this is because of students’ inability to pay their tuition.
This school year, almost half of USU’s population relies on some form of financial aid to pay for college, said Steve Sharp, USU’s director of Financial Aid.
It is President Obama’s goal for the U.S. to again be No. 1 in the world for percentage of college graduates, Duncan said. Currently, the U.S. is ranked No. 9 globally in percentage of the population who are college graduates.
Duncan said college graduation will be more easily achieved when more students know how to dip into the $70 billion of financial aid the government allots each year.
“Historically, we haven’t been creative enough in making college affordable and accessible,” Paperton said.
Duncan and Paperton are teaming up with MTV to create collaboration amongst students, encouraging them to help solve these problems. The Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge is one way government officials plan to create excitement amongst college students to join in the effort to improve students’ financial barriers, said Jason Rzepka, vice president of MTV Public Affairs.
“We need to be realistic in that there is not any one silver bullet,” Rzepka said. “What we are trying to do here is get some momentum going.”
The challenge asks college students to think outside of the box and find interesting “digital tools” that will ease confusion in the financial aid process. The winning proposal will be awarded $10,000.
Though the initiators of the challenge are optimistic, Sharp said he is skeptical that this new program will solve financial aid complexities. He said many programs similar to the College Affordability Challenge have been attempted without any profound results.
“The Department of Education has continually asked for suggestions of how to make financial aid more accessible,” Sharp said, “But it’s a congressionally mandated thing, so the department is hampered. They don’t have the power to pass anything.”
Paperton said he is pleased that this challenge is creating some tension by making students face the financial issues they must face. He said it will make them think critically about how they can improve their own situation, and they will be motivated to do so with the $10,000 prize.
Sharp said in his experience, simplifying the financial aid process for students creates more rules and regulations for Financial Aid to abide by. Some aspects of this process have been simplified recently, he said. Rather than fill out an entire form, students can check a box allowing Financial Aid to gain access to their IRS paperwork. Also, loans and grants now come straight from federal funding and are not accessed at all through banks. Sharp said one of the biggest things that creates confusion in accessing loans and grants comes with deciding who deserves the money.
“Welfare is a very unpopular program and people believe only the deserving poor should receive assistance,” Sharp said. “Who are the deserving poor, though? Figuring this out is where everything gets complex.”
At this point, Sharp said all he and the rest of the Financial Aid staff can do is act as intermediaries in the complexity because all changes made by the government don’t take action for years. The option to change a FAFSA form’s status from single to married in the same year was only recently approved after 10 years of debate.
“Our job is to make the student’s experience acquiring financial aid as simple as legally possible,” Sharp said.
Though Secretary Duncan said he realizes the road to a simpler financial aid system is hopeful, he also said it will be full of hurdles.
“The honest answer is there isn’t an easy answer on this,” Duncan said. “We are seeing horrendous cuts all over the country. We need to challenge states to invest every little dollar we put into them.”
With ideas from students who are aware of financial aid stresses, Rzepka is hopeful that interesting and effective ideas will be produced through MTV’s challenge.
Rzepka said: “One thing I’ve seen here at MTV in our efforts with education is a paralysis, and I think with this challenge in particular we will come up with a tool that will help students understand their options.”
–catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu