THE RISING PRICE OF INEQUALITY - HOW INADEQUATE GRANT AID LIMITS COLLEGE ACCESS AND PERSISTENCE

REPORT TO CONGRESS AND THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Full report

In the Higher Education Amendments of 1986 (P.L. 99-948), Congress created the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to be an objective, nonpartisan source of expertise and advice on student aid policy. Its legislative charge is to make recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of Education that maintain and improve college access and persistence for needy students.

Through four administrations, eleven Congresses, and four reauthorizations, the Committee has made every effort to fulfill this mandate. In the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (P.L.110-315), Congress reauthorized the Committee and charged it to monitor and report annually on the condition of college access and persistence through 2014. Specifically, the annual report is required to contain analyses and policy recommendations regarding the adequacy of total grant aid and the postsecondary enrollment and graduation rates of low- and moderate-income students.

The major focus of this first report is on 4-year college enrollment and bachelor’s degree attainment, not because every high school graduate must or should enroll in a 4-year college or pursue a bachelor’s degree, but because our financial aid system is founded on the principle that any youth, regardless of family income, should have the financial opportunity to do so, if he or she has the aspiration and prepares adequately. This longstanding principle is highly practical: Americans benefit greatly from increased educational attainment and economic productivity. Because our nation’s competitiveness in the world economy is a particular focus and concern of federal policy today, assessing the extent to which total grant aid is adequate to ensure enrollment and degree completion of academically qualified high school graduates is of overriding importance.

Specifically, this report focuses on how financial concerns about college expenses and financial aid, triggered by high prices of 4-year public colleges net of all grant aid, affect low- and moderate-income high school graduates – in particular the steps they take toward college enrollment, and the consequences for degree completion. For analytical purposes, to focus as much on finances as possible, the report excludes a large portion of low- and moderate-income 8th and 10th graders who did not graduate from high school or graduated without being at least minimally prepared to attend a four-year college. But nothing in this report should be construed as implying that these students, who are also deserving recipients of Title IV assistance, should be left behind, or that scarce funds should be shifted away from them to their peers who are better prepared.

Title IV has multiple purposes, one of which is to offset the continuing disparity in college preparation among poor and wealthy students. And the data show clearly that we are a long way from achieving a level playing field in that regard. The same is true of the large population of low- and moderate-income nontraditional students. As do previous Advisory Committee reports, this one does not deal with that problem directly, but chooses to focus on the underlying access and persistence pipeline that gives rise to this population in the first place. Financial barriers to college are a primary cause of delayed and part-time enrollment to begin with, and become a major obstacle to re-enrollment of nontraditional students in pursuit of a college degree. Lastly, while this report centers on 4-year college enrollment and completion, we recognize and wish to call attention to our belief that all types of postsecondary training, certificates, and degrees contribute greatly to our nation’s well-being by enhancing workforce skills, critical thinking,

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