Higher Education in the State of the Union: The Missing Piece
February 5, 2010
DONALD E. HELLER, Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education, Pennsylvania State University
President Obama's State of the Union address last week was notable for the attention paid to higher education issues. There was lots there to chew on for those of us in colleges and universities, and his proposals have received voluminous coverage in the press - as well as here at EPI (see http://www.educationalpolicy.org/news/PR/PR_100128_SOTU.html).
For those interested in how the federal government can help promote access and success in higher education, it is hard to argue with the specific proposals the President put forward, especially in light of the fiscal situation in which the nation finds itself. While he had previously proposed many of them, featuring them in the SOTU was telling in itself. It was all there: increases in Pell Grants, elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan program in favor of Direct Lending, increased tax credits for higher education, and real income-contingent repayment of federal loans. And just to remind us that it's not all about what the federal government can do, the President told us, ""And by the way, it's time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs - because they too have a responsibility to help solve this problem."
The piece of the college access puzzle the President did not talk about, however, is one that we still must solve - and that is the complexity of the entire financial aid system, especially for those students and families who have the least familiarity with what it takes to pay for college. Just think about what President Obama did mention in his speech: Pell Grants, federal loans, tax credits, and loan repayments. And that list does not include all of the other important components of the financial aid system, including: state grants, work study assistance, institutional need-based and merit grants, private loans, and the myriad other sources that students can tap to help pay for college.
In his defense, both the President and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have spoken in the past about the need to simplify the financial aid system, but their efforts so far have focused almost exclusively on making it easier to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Research has shown that simplifying the system, so that students from poor and moderate income families can better understand what it costs to attend college, and what kind and how much assistance is available to help pay those costs, will be a critical step toward closing the gaps in college participation between the rich and the poor in this country.
This will take more than just shortening the FAFSA; it means that we have to do a better job of getting the information about financial aid out to the students who need it, and get it to them earlier in their educational careers. While the federal government can play an important role, it can't solve the problem by itself. It will have to work closely with colleges, secondary schools, states, and community organizations in this endeavor. Without these efforts, all the Pell Grant and federal loan dollars in the world will do little good if poor and moderate-income students don't know that they are available.
DONALD E HELLER is Professor of Education and Senior Scientist, and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University
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