December 19, 2008
Feature: Recession makes this the right time for a College Opportunity Agenda
Worth thinking about: Think tank thinks big, pushes for more need-based aid
New idea: The end of FAFSA?
National news: Obama agenda and Pell Grant possibilities
Student voice: LaCresia King
Editor’s note
This occasional education policy e-newsletter is sent to members of the Minnesota Private College Council Legislative Action Network. Find out more about the Network View past issues
FEATURE
Recession makes this the right time for a College Opportunity Agenda
A $5.2 billion budget deficit will translate into huge cuts in state spending. In fact, when the 2009 session starts Jan. 6, policy makers will need to slice the equivalent of about 12 percent out of the state budget. But with the nation’s economy in a sustained recession, aid to low- and middle-income students is one area of the state’s budget that should not just be protected from cuts — it should grow.
The College Opportunity Agenda proposed by the Minnesota Private College Council would invest in the state’s future.
- We can make college more affordable for low- and middle-income students — no matter what kind of college they choose. The agenda calls for adding $75 million a year to the need-based aid Minnesota gives 80,000-some college students already, through the State Grant program. Awards would increase and 10,000 more college students would be eligible for these awards.
- And we can prepare more students who are the least likely to go to college to be able to do just that. The agenda calls for adding $10 million a year to expand existing federally funded TRiO access programs that offer training, coaching and mentoring.
In higher education, the state of Minnesota cannot continue to afford everything it funds today. We need to focus on the core need of sustaining access for low- and middle-income families to post-secondary education. That’s what is going to help propel our economy in the years ahead. And the best way to support that goal is to continue to invest in need-based aid and college access support.
Targeting new investments in these two existing efforts, the State Grant and TRiO programs, would benefit students statewide and at all kinds of institutions, two-year and four-year, public and private. But the College Opportunity Agenda is not worth supporting just because of how it will aid thousands of college students. This agenda is critical to the state because of how it will help our whole economy.
To help Minnesota’s economy rebound, Minnesota should target aid to low- and middle-income college students.
What you can do: Share this news with others and watch for more information as the legislative session gets started in January.
WORTH THINKING ABOUT
Think tank thinks big, pushes for more need-based aid for college
Fifty percent — that’s the increase in the rate of Minnesota students who would obtain some type of college degree, two- or four-year, under a plan released last month by Growth & Justice. This liberal-leaning think tank has issued a broad “Smart Investments in Minnesota Students” proposal that ranges from new preschool supports to more high school counselors, costing $1 billion a year. Increasing the state’s need-based aid for college students, the State Grant program, is included in the proposal. The report notes that an investment of $115 million a year in the State Grant is what it would cost for Minnesota to be in line with the nation’s highest ranking states.
One way to make college easier to pay for would be to make it easier to apply for aid. One step in that direction was suggested this fall when a national policy panel tied to the College Board recommended eliminating the FAFSA form. It could be a timely proposition; the form is blamed for making the whole process that much more complicated, especially for students whose families haven’t been through it all before. This group recommends that the needed financial information be obtained from the IRS instead. There could be some interest in tackling this in the next Congress; the Bush administration’s Department of Education has since come out with its own simplification suggestions and Inside Higher Ed pointed out that Rahm Emanuel, incoming chief of staff for the Obama administration, has co-sponsored legislation to get at the complexity issue. (One Minnesota connection to note; former Macalester president Michael McPherson, of the Spencer Foundation now, was a lead author of the report, which is packed with other meaty ideas.) Find out more about the College Board recommendation
NATIONAL NEWS
Obama agenda and Pell Grant possibilities
College students and their advocates want to know what we should expect from President Barack Obama. It will take some time for that to emerge, with his newly nominated Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, coming from and probably likely to focus on K-12 issues. While on the campaign trail, Obama did speak about higher ed at times, as Inside Higher Ed has tracked.
His plans for college affordability included:
- A fully refundable tax credit to cover the first $4,000 in college costs for everyone. The only requirement would be 100 hours of public service.
- Increases in Pell Grant maximums to keep them growing at the level of inflation or higher.
The focus on Pell Grants, which help low-income college students, could move up on president-elect’s timetable. With a new economic stimulus plan is being considered by the incoming administration, advocates for students are encouraging the idea that more spending on federal need-based aid, through Pell Grants, is just what would help our ailing economy. The Minnesota Private College Council analyzed their case for this proposal in a letter to members of Congress (PDF).
“Going to college was my dream and with the State Grant I received I was able to make that dream a reality. I want Minnesota legislators to know that by increasing the amount of grant money for students they will be increasing the amount of students like me — who grew up below the poverty line — attending college. . . . There are constantly people telling students that college is the greatest thing they can ever do but for a lot of students like me, it seems like a dream that is far too expensive which can become very discouraging. If Minnesota legislators increase the grant amount given to us students they will essentially be creating a better future for more lives than one and making college less of a dream and more of a reality for a large amount of students.”
— LaCresia King, Concordia College freshman and Social Work major