THE INTELLIBLOGSMissing out on Financial Aid Due to Lack of Awareness
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 10:43AM Nearly 40% of eligible students felt they would not qualify for financial aid if they applied, according to a report, “Apply to Succeed: Ensuring Community College Students Benefit from Need-Based Financial Aid,” released Monday by the federal Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. And some, the report states, were deterred from re-applying because they had not qualified in the past.
Administrators acknowledge that the reasons for students not applying vary, but that they lack the quantifiable data needed to make firm decisions on how to change this. The report quotes some as saying:
A lot of students don’t know that financial aid exists. They have a sort of cartoon version of affording college that they get from television and YouTube and friends. Financial aid doesn’t seem relevant to community college students. Or it pertains to borrowing, and they’re not going to take out loans, so they just put it out of their heads.
Some students, and even high school counselors, associate aid only with four-year institutions.
Unlike 4-year institutions which tend to track prospects years before
they attend, community colleges often don’t have the luxury of time
when it comes to reaching out to students. The sooner they identify students that need help the better because sometimes the decision to enroll or apply for financial aid could pass quickly.
The core of this problem is lack of awareness due to improper outreach and communications with prospective students. Many institutions lack the insight into the needs of their prospects, and thus are failing to recognize which students are eligible but not applying for financial aid. If they could access that information, they would be in a better position to communicate effectively with prospective students about their financial aid options.
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