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Earlier this year, President Biden proposed a 10 percent increase to the Pell Grant to raise the maximum annual amount to $8,145. The proposal marks the latest step toward the federal government’s goal of doubling the Pell Grant by 2029, a move that reflects a broader effort by policymakers to increase the affordability of a college education.
While considerable resources have been devoted to affordability initiatives over the past two decades, a college degree remains astonishingly out of reach For many students, financial barriers are not the only reason for persistent gaps in college access and completion for students from underinvested communities; significant information deficits also play a role.
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When I immigrated to the United States from India, I already had a bachelor’s degree. I then earned a master’s degree and a PhD in the United States and have since held several leadership positions focused on connecting elementary and secondary school students to higher education. Yet even for someone like me, with specialized professional experience in the field, the path to and through college remains surprisingly opaque.
Prospective college students and their families are faced with numerous questions: What high school courses should a student take? Are extracurricular activities an added value or a distraction? How can a student navigate the complex maze of paperwork required to determine whether a family can afford to send their child to college? What pathways are most productive and empowering for students who come from low-income families and high-poverty high schools? Which colleges best fit their needs and goals? Answers can often elude the growing majority of aspiring college students, many of whom are first-generation students, come from low-income backgrounds, and are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves. This dangerous imbalance of information is undermining the promise of higher education.
High school counselors work hard to get students the answers they need, but they are often overwhelmed by the number of students they need to help. The average student-to-counselor ratio in high schools is estimated to be about 232 to oneAdditionally, most counselors are primarily trained to support students’ mental health and receive little or no formal training in university planning. one third of U.S. public high schools have a counselor dedicated exclusively to college advising, and about 17 percent In most high schools, there is no guidance counselor of any kind. Many students, especially those who come from low-income families or who are the first in their families to go to college, have nowhere to turn to find even the most basic information about the college admissions process, let alone college.
Even before the botched launch of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, an alarming number of students were struggling to take this crucial first step in the college admissions process. Only 58 percent of the high school class of 2023 completed the FAFSA. That translates to at least $4 billion in unused federal student aid. Recent research A Brookings Institution study found that many students are grossly misinformed about the financial aid process. Low-income students often mistakenly believed they were ineligible for federal financial aid because their high school grades were too low, their credit scores were poor, or they planned to attend college part-time. More than one-third of low-income students who intended to go to college did not file the FAFSA because they did not know how to do so.
Students are also uninformed about how to plan their college experience to achieve success after graduation. Almost half Fifty-three percent of current college students strongly agree that their major will enable them to land a good job, and just over a third (36 percent) believe they are acquiring the skills they need to succeed in their career. This uncertainty continues long after graduation. More than a third (36 percent) of American adults say they would change their field of study if they could, and more than a quarter (28 percent) wish they could change the institution they attended. This lack of guidance at the beginning of students’ journey affects them not only in college but also when they try to enter the workforce. More than half of graduates from four-year institutions (52 percent) remain underemployed one year after obtaining his degree.
This information imbalance has a profound impact on college access and completion, despite an increasing emphasis on affordability. Countless students who could benefit from the many advantages of a college degree never enroll, and many view college as an experience not meant for them. Among those who do go to college, nearly 40 percent never graduate.
In the past academic year alone, College Possible has worked with more than 25,000 students and 1,500 higher education institutions to help demystify the college admissions process and clarify the path from enrollment to graduation. But the nonprofit sector cannot do this work alone. State policymakers and university leaders must work together to identify, support, and scale peer tutoring solutions that can help close these knowledge gaps, create a more equitable higher education system, and illuminate the path forward for millions of hardworking, motivated students who aspire to achieve more in their lives.
Siva Kumari is the Executive Director of College Possible, a nonprofit focused on college access and success.
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