Declare Yourself Independent for Financial Aid

aerial view of college student working on computer

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…

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The Hidden Financial Aid Hurdle Derailing College Students

Photo of Elizabeth Cornwall on the deck outside her home

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…

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Proposed Welfare Rule Change May Alter State Scholarship Funding Practices

clipboard reading temporary assistance for needy families

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…

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Higher Learning Advocates and 40 Organizations Celebrate Bipartisan Resolution Marking September as National Student Parent Month

Parenting student mother walking with child

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…

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Funding for College-Completion Program at Risk in Federal Budget

Photo of money with graduation cap and tassle

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…

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How to Increase Socioeconomic Diversity at the Ivies

Photo of College Walk at Columbia University

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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Campaign to Increase Child Care Access for Today’s Students Gains More Support

WASHINGTON – Today, Higher Learning Advocates sent a letter to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education that shows growing support from 54 organizations for HLA’s ongoing efforts to increase funding for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Program. The letter urges Congress to boost CCAMPIS funding to $500…

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Higher Learning Advocates and 29 Partners Ask Congress to Restore Access to Federal Student Aid

WASHINGTON — Today, Higher Learning Advocates and 29 partners wrote a letter to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education urging Congress to consider a Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) reset. Allowing a reset of SAP requirements will maximize college students’ persistence and success in their postsecondary education by supporting them in maintaining…

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Debt cancellation got all the attention, but this Biden proposal could impact student-loan borrowers more, critics and advocates say

“When President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration planned to cancel $10,000 in federal student debt for most borrowers, Allison Daurio felt some relief. Under the White House’s debt forgiveness plan, Daurio , 29 would see about one-quarter of her student loan balance wiped away. But as she read more closely through the…

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