College

We must help make college more affordable for low-income Americans

Opinion: WorkingNation president and Association of American Colleges and Universities president on fulfilling the American education promise
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Lynn Pasquerella, Association of American Colleges and Universities President (Photo: AACU)

The worldwide proliferation of coronavirus has prompted a global recession. Colleges and universities, particularly community colleges, will be called upon to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to enter or re-enter a radically disrupted workforce.

An equity imperative mandates identifying hidden barriers to access to higher education for the most vulnerable and underserved members of society.

To help make college more affordable for low-income Americans, the federal government offers direct aid to students in the forms of grants and loans. While the total amount of aid available to individual students has changed over time, the factors used to determine both eligibility and the amount of award have not.

Jane Oates headshot
Jane Oates, WorkingNation President (Photo: Jonathan Barenboim)

Those factors may have been appropriate in the 1980s and 1990s, when most college students were between the ages of 18 and 24 and attended full-time. However, at a time when more than half of all college students are independent and 40 percent enroll part-time, they constitute a significant barrier to post-secondary educational access for many low-income adults.

Four changes to federal student aid policy are urgently needed to account for these changing demographics within higher education and to meet future workforce needs.

First, expunge the satisfactory academic progress records of adults who have worked for three to five years. To be eligible for federal aid, a student must maintain a satisfactory progress record, or SAP, which is defined as a minimum grade point average of 2.0 and a course completion ratio of 67 percent.

Today, 36 million Americans (nearly 20 percent of the working-age population) have some college credit but no degree. The average age of these former students is 42, and 56 percent of them left college when they were in their 20s. Sixty-seven percent left while enrolled in a community college. Over half are women.

Many of these working adults seek to complete their education but are permanently ineligible for federal financial aid based on poor academic performance five, 10 or 20 years ago. Expunging SAP records after three to five years would offer them a second chance, promote economic mobility and help increase overall educational attainment levels.

Second, level the playing field for independent students. To be eligible for federal aid, a student must demonstrate financial need, which is calculated by subtracting the student’s expected family contribution from the cost of college attendance. For dependent students, every $10,000 increase in parental earnings reduces eligibility by approximately $3,000.

By contrast, every $10,000 increase in the earnings of an independent student results in a $5,000 decrease in eligibility. Students are automatically categorized as independent if they are 24 years of age or older, married, an orphan, a ward of the court, an emancipated minor, a veteran, a member of the armed forces, homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, or if they have legal dependents other than a spouse.

The impact can be far-reaching. For example, students who qualify for subsidized direct loans based on their income are not required to pay interest while enrolled and for six months after completion of their educational programs. Federal financial aid policy should be changed to ensure that the impact of additional income is the same for dependent and independent students.

Third, allow students to take one course at a time. Only full- and part-time students are eligible for federal aid. At most colleges and universities, students are required to enroll for 12 credits in order to attain full-time status and six credits to attain part-time status.

Today, 40 percent of students are part-time, 24 percent are parenting and 64 percent work while in college. Allowing students to take advantage of federal financial aid even when taking one course at a time would decrease burdens on adult students who must balance work and family obligations.

Fourth, extend eligibility for Pell Grants to 16 semesters. The federal Pell Grant program provides need-based subsidies to low-income college students. Prior to 2008, there were no limits on eligibility other than continued financial need. The 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act imposed a lifetime limit of 18 semesters. This was reduced even further by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, which placed a limit of 12 semesters on full-time students and 24 semesters on part-time students.

At a time when rapidly changing technology means rapid obsolescence and the jobs of the future have not yet been invented, the opportunity for lifelong learning and training is more critical than ever. Increasing eligibility to 16 semesters or more would enable many low-income working adults to continue their education and job training.

With more than 3.3 million Americans applying for unemployment in a single week at the end of March, some economists are predicting an overall loss of 40 million jobs by June. Higher education will play a key role in catalyzing economic recovery for the nation by providing the knowledge and skills necessary for students to thrive in the workforce.

Fulfilling the promise of American higher education as a central component of the American dream requires removing barriers that would prevent eager prospective students from access to an affordable college degree.

Jane Oates is the President of WorkingNation.
Lynn Pasquerella is the President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

This Op-Ed was originally published on the Inside Higher Education website and is republished with the organization’s permission.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.