Federal college aid delays devastating for KY but students must fill out FAFSA form. | Opinion
In these divided times, there is bipartisan agreement that that the rollout of an “easier” college financial aid process has been a mess. Politicians from both sides of the aisle decried the delays and confusion surrounding the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at a congressional hearing last week.
In Kentucky, the rollout has had an immediate and damaging impact. The Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges, and institutions across the Commonwealth have been working for years to increase the number of students completing the FAFSA, which is necessary to determine how much federal financial aid a student will receive to put toward a college education. Tragically, so far this year, around 45% fewer students from Kentucky have filled out the application. That means thousands of students will not be eligible to receive federal grants, financial aid or work study funds and will not be able to afford the cost of college.
This is devastating for our state, where only 51.5% of high school graduates go on to pursue higher education. We simply must do more to put an invaluable degree within reach for Kentuckians, and fixing the federal financial aid process is critical to that goal.
Expanding access to higher education—or first-generation and lower income students, in particular—will unlock students’ full potential and drive economic growth, innovation, and social mobility across the state. Studies have consistently shown that college-educated individuals earn higher wages, experience lower unemployment rates, and contribute more to their local economies than their counterparts without college degrees. This year, as many as 10,000 fewer Kentuckians will be able to afford the cost of a college degree, an issue that will also reverberate through their families and their communities. How many future doctors, teachers, and civic leaders will be unable to afford the cost of college this year?
Centre College has seen first-hand the transformative power in providing opportunity, financial aid and personal support to students pursuing a degree, particularly those who are or will be the first in their families to do so. Overall, Centre, where 21% of its students are first-generation, provides more than $47 million in financial aid and grants each year. The college recently announced an expansion of its successful Grissom Scholars program, which covers tuition, room, and board for qualifying first-gen students each year. The scholarship also provides these students with mentoring, individualized programming, and enrichment funding to ensure success in college. Since the program began in 2014, Grissom Scholars have graduated at an extraordinary 94% rate. Some have gone on to earn graduate degrees and enroll in medical and law school.
But we still need these students to complete the FAFSA to determine how much support they need to bolster the invaluable federal and state aid they might be eligible for to help them pay for that college degree. Federal and state aid and grants combined with scholarships from colleges are investments in our students, in the economy and the future of our communities, the Commonwealth and the nation.
We must collectively do more to put transformational educational opportunities within reach of Kentucky students and their families. If you know a young person who is thinking about attending college next fall – at Centre or anywhere in the Commonwealth – please encourage them to complete the FAFSA, despite this year’s delays.
Milton C. Moreland is the president of Centre College in Danville, Ky.
