Financial aid for low-income working adults
State and federal financial aid for low-income adults and disadvantaged youth is paltry compared to their need. Even with recent increases in the Pell grant, its inflation-adjusted value has eroded significantly over time and now covers only a small portion of college costs. Even with student loans, financial aid packages often leave low-income students without enough funds to pay for all the costs of college which include ...more »
State and federal financial aid for low-income adults and disadvantaged youth is paltry compared to their need. Even with recent increases in the Pell grant, its inflation-adjusted value has eroded significantly over time and now covers only a small portion of college costs. Even with student loans, financial aid packages often leave low-income students without enough funds to pay for all the costs of college which include not just tuition and fees but also housing, child care, transportation, and other living expenses. But most importantly, federal and state student aid programs are typically designed for traditional students and often provide little assistance to adult, part-time, and working students.
We need more and better student financial aid that helps low-income students, who often attend college while they are working, access education and persist long enough to attain a postsecondary credential. This includes developing new types of student financial aid in higher education and Work Study opportunities designed specifically to support low-income adults and disadvantaged youth.
Many states have designed new aid programs or adapted existing aid programs to better serve adult students, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Washington, and West Virginia. With current federal and state budget pressures, it is essential to adopt policies that encourage leveraging and coordinating student financing from many sources – such as federal and state student financial aid, the Workforce Investment Act, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and employers. Examples of states effectively doing this include, but are not limited to, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oregon.
For more information on this idea and others, visit www.clasp.org/postsecondary.
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