Posts by Robyn Bland
Using Financial Aid Data to Help Students Meet Basic Needs
A growing body of research has shown that student persistence and college completion are strongly connected to and determined by whether students’ basic needs are being met. But college administrators are hamstrung by insufficient funding to fully address basic needs insecurity on their campuses and help students in a comprehensive way. A new policy brief by Higher Learning Advocates (HLA),…
Read MoreIdaho Scholarship Program a Boon for Students and State
A new workforce development scholarship program in Idaho is generating more interest than originally projected, and state officials say the response reflects the demand for education and training needed to fill jobs in the region and an opportunity to get and keep young people employed in the state. The LAUNCH program offers Idaho high school graduates, or those…
Read MoreBipartisan Progress on Pell Grant Expansion, but Hurdles Remain
As Congress gears up to head home for the holiday season, proponents who have hoped to see a breakthrough on the long-running issue of expanding Pell Grants to career-training programs lasting fewer than 15 weeks have received an early gift—a bipartisan deal in the House. Key lawmakers in both parties have wrangled for years over the expansion,…
Read MoreDeclare Yourself Independent for Financial Aid
Before filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, applicants must first determine their dependency status – which dictates whose information needs to be submitted on the form. An undergraduate student can’t simply choose to file as an independent on the FAFSA, the application that most schools use to determine financial aid awards. They…
Read MoreThe Hidden Financial Aid Hurdle Derailing College Students
At 19, Elizabeth Clews knew attending community college while balancing a full-time job and caring for a newborn would be hard. But she wanted to give it a shot. After a few months, the single mom, who had just exited the foster care system, realized she wasn’t doing well enough to pass her classes at…
Read MoreProposed Welfare Rule Change May Alter State Scholarship Funding Practices
Colleges and universities in at least eight states could lose a total of between $970 million and $1.3 billion in scholarship funding under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The states have been misusing funds from the federal welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families that were intended to help low-income parents on…
Read More‘Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners’: A Special Report
Inside Higher Ed published a new special report, “Modernizing Postsecondary Policy to Better Support Adult Learners,” with insight provided by HLA’s Julie Peller, executive director, and Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, managing director of policy and research. This free, print-on-demand report explores how current federal and state policies can impede working learners, veterans, student parents and other…
Read MoreHigher Learning Advocates and 40 Organizations Celebrate Bipartisan Resolution Marking September as National Student Parent Month
Higher Learning Advocates and 40 organizations signed on to a letter to Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Tom Carper (D-DE) applauding Congress for passing the National Student Parent Month resolution. For the third consecutive year, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating September as a national celebration of parenting students, which acknowledges the sacrifices…
Read MoreFunding for College-Completion Program at Risk in Federal Budget
Fourteen thousand students dropped out of the Austin Community College District in Texas during the last two academic years. But the institution of more than 36,000 students has a plan to get some of them back. Supported by a $770,765 Education Department grant, that plan involves reaching out to students and connecting them with career…
Read MoreHow to Increase Socioeconomic Diversity at the Ivies
Ivy League colleges are under growing pressure to broaden their student base by using admission policies that increase the proportion of low- and moderate-income students on campuses and raise their rate of socioeconomic mobility. A new report, released Tuesday by the HEA Group, a research and consulting firm focused on college access and success, says…
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