Proposed Law Opens Door to Higher Education for Low-Income Students
In a post in December I commented on how many states and even the federal government is beginning to set up programs and legislation that favors higher education opportunities for lower-income students. A case in point is the $4,000 college tuition deduction for households with incomes of less than $65,000. These lower-income households are a population segment that often patronizes community colleges over elite four-year public institutions as a matter of affordability.
New legislation proposed in the state of Virginia is poised to make the dream of a quality education a reality, but one that is affordable specifically for low-income students. According to the article written by Josh Keller titled “Virginia Lawmakers Consider Bill to Encourage Students to Start at 2-Year Colleges” that appeared in the Jan. 19, 2007 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, “A lot of students are self-selecting out because they just don’t believe it’s going to be affordable,” said Yvonne B. Hubbard, director of student financial services at the University of Virginia. “What this does is allow us to say, ‘Here’s how you can do it, here’s how it’s going to work,’ ” she finished.
Elite Public Schools May Be Possible
The article states that “the legislation could also help attract low-income students to the state’s four-year colleges, which recently increased the amount of their financial aid to needy students and guaranteed spots on some campuses to some community-college graduates with good grades.” It would do this by allowing qualified “transfer students to pay the same tuition and fees at public four-year institutions that they paid at a community college. Each student who transferred to an in-state private college after graduating from a community college would initially receive a voucher worth about $2,150 a year,” the article said.
In addition, the measure, if it becomes law, would help Virginia accommodate an influx of 20 percent to 25 percent “in college enrollment in the state over the next six years,” the article said. To qualify, students must graduate with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher from a community college, “and come from families with incomes of less than 150 percent of a state or local median,” the article said.
Solution to Uneven Disbursement of Pell Grants
One reason that Virginia appears to be so serious about assisting lower-income students may be the low percentage of Pell Grants disbursed. According to the article, during the 2005-06 school year “only 7.6 percent of undergraduates at the flagship University of Virginia received federal Pell Grants – the lowest proportion among the nation’s elite public colleges, according to a Chronicle analysis. Pell Grants typically are awarded to students from families with incomes of $40,000 or less. A university survey found that more than 60 percent of last year’s undergraduates came from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.”
This trend, favoring higher-income students with Pell Grants while neglecting those for which the grants were created, is a national one, seen at many elite public institutions across the country. The federal government has received much pressure to change the system so that lower-income students and their families receive a more equal share of the federal financial aid pie.
According to the article, Glenn DuBois, Virginia Community College system chancellor, said that “community colleges are an ideal ‘on ramp’ for students who might otherwise bow out of higher education altogether.” DuBois summarized his position and stated that, “We have a reality in Virginia where at least in three or four of these public institutions, you have to be graduating at the very top of your high-school class,” he said. “Now there’s another way to get there, guaranteed.”
Talk to the education financial advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.
Be sure to tune in next Tuesday for my next blog about this week in student loans.
Student Loan Girl