1. Increasing Return on Investment for Federal Student Aid
Carrie:
Welcome
Staff Intros
Share website

2. Why Examine Federal Student Aid?
Kim:
Graduation rates are still too low – 42% FTFT according to IPEDS, 54% if expanded by NSC – overall still not trajectory needed to meet Goal 2025 or President’s Goal
Current federal student aid focus on access, which is important to keep, but does not encourage completion which is needed for full benefits to individual and society
Congress continues to make higher education policy decisions based on budget constraints rather than program effectiveness. Recommendations made with eye for program improvement as well as financial considerations
Gates Funding, Fellow Grantees
11/28/2018

3. Process http://advocacy.collegeaccess.org MorraLee:
* Member feedback, committee, blog, events

4. Barriers in Current Student Aid System
Price
Complicated processes
Little relevant information
Insufficient responsibility sharing
MorraLee: (finish by 3:10)
Discuss barriers:
Price of higher education continues to rise relative to inflation, and need based dollars cover a small percentage of cost of attendance for low income students (get states on % of income needed pay based on quartiles)
Receiving federal student aid continues to be a complicated process however great strides have been made in recent years (find out how aid eligible for too late in process to effect decision about where to apply)
Data on colleges that is currently available does not provide the information most useful to students and families when selecting an institutions where they will be most likely to succeed (how does a student like me do at this school?)
States and Institutions continue to shift the responsibility to the federal government to help low income students access higher education (increasing public school tuitions and increase of merit aid over need aid)
11/28/2018

5. Guiding Principle One: Prioritize Federal Dollars for First-Generation and Low-Income Students While Reshaping Aid for Those Repaying Their Student Loans
Carrie
11/28/2018

6. Implementing Principle One
Keep the need-based Pell Grant program as the system’s centerpiece.
Maintain full funding for Pell Grants by refocusing current tax credits and subsidized loan program savings to the Pell Grant program.
Help more students pay back their federal student loans by automatically enrolling all recipients in Income-Based Repayment with an opt-out choice.
Carrie:
*Pell should not be changed based on budget numbers such as “we have a funding gap of X so we’re going to make Y change to result in X savings”
*Summer Pell should return but students should still have a 12 semester limit. Continuous enrollment helps students graduate
*Tax credits and deductions are not structured to help low income families, while AOTC is refundable, low income families need the funds up front not as a reimbursement. Also, 80% of families earn $100,000 or less but credits and deductions are available up to $160k or $180K depending on the program. Recommend reducing family limit to $100k to redirecting those funds to Pell. (Acknowledge AOTC just extended for five years)
*Change the loan repayment system to automatically enroll all students in IBR. Examine IBR formula so that helps those in lower income jobs without offering unneeded assistance to those in high income jobs. End subsidized Stafford as pay for Pell and also restructure of repayment program. Show Jason charts that with IBR, sub Stafford isn’t needed (use federal dollars when debt is being repaid and needed rather than when loans are received)
11/28/2018

7. Guiding Principle Two: Continue to Streamline the Student Aid Application Process and Provide Transparent, Relevant Information on Student Outcomes
MorraLee
11/28/2018

8. Implementing Principle Two
Further simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by using prior- prior year tax return data to replace the FAFSA form.
Overhaul the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to collect student outcomes, not inputs.
Require institutional participation in the federal financial aid shopping sheet.
Expand public-private partnership programs with demonstrated results to provide much-needed information to students and families at a fraction of the price of a full-time guidance counselor.
MorraLee:
*Short term: switch to prior prior year tax info for FAFSA so students can know in junior year the aid they will eligible for, which will help them apply to institutions that will be a better overall match, which will increase their likelihood for graduation
*Long term: explore the possibility of using IRS tax return (or replacement form for those who don’t file) in place of the FAFSA (site Sue D.)
*IPEDS should focus on outcomes, not inputs, which would add some new reporting elements but also remove many current reporting elements
*shopping sheet is needed so students can compare the numbers of fin aid packages evenly (PLUS loans are not aid)
*public-private partnerships give much needed supplemental help to guidance counselors in high need areas and schools. Many NCAN members are a strong example of what can be done with programs such as AmeriCorps (NCAC, College Possible, College Forward)
11/28/2018

9. Guiding Principle Three: Ensure that States and Institutions Share Responsibility with the Federal Government to Support the Graduation of Low-Income Students, Financially and Through Other Assistance
Kim
11/28/2018

10. Implementing Principle Three
Hold institutions accountable for student success through the federal campus-based aid program by distributing aid competitively rather than by length of time in the program.
Enhance incentives for states to continue their support of public higher education and commitment to need-based aid using “maintenance of effort” in additional federal programs.
Reverse the merit-aid trend by designing federal and state programs that incent need-based aid.
Kim:
*Current SEOG, FWS, Perkins dollars are distributed based on the length of time an institution has participated in the federal program. Re do this distribution to base on the number of low income students admitted and graduated based on similar institutions. Research from Ed Trust (CRO) shows that many institutions serving similar profile of students have vastly different graduation rates among various groups of students of color and their white counterparts. Use this incentive for institutions to accept greater numbers of low income students and to graduate them at increasing rates.
*Continue to use MOE in federal programs to encourage states to keep their investments in higher education from declining
*Wherever possible, use federal policy to encourage states and institutions to focus their limited dollars on need based aid rather than merit based aid
11/28/2018

11. Next Steps: http://www.collegeaccess.org/policy
Opinion pieces by NCAN and our Members
Letters to Congress supporting proposals
Policy Briefing Week of March 11th
Carrie
11/28/2018

12. Discussion Options “Raise Hand” to speak
If listening to the webinar through computer speakers, microphone must be enabled
If listening via the phone, be sure audio option is set to “phone”
Type comment into question box to be read aloud
All
11/28/2018