Archived MEOA News
How to pay for college? It’s never too early to begin search for student financial aid
Kevin P. O’Connor, South Coast Today, January 29, 2008
Don’t panic, Mom and Dad, even though young Abigail just got accepted to college and you are about to take one of the biggest financial hits of your life.
Come on, deep breaths. There is help for you out there.
But you need to start immediately.
“That is the best advice right now,” Barbara Helfrich, director of guidance for Dartmouth High School, said of the financial aid process. “We tell most parents, at this time of year, that they want to get working on this right away. That is the most important thing they can do.”
There is a lot to do, families will be even busier later in the year and there is more money available in January and February than there will be in May, educators say.
The first step is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). For the best shot at getting the most financial aid, the FAFSA application should be completed by Feb. 15, SouthCoast high school guidance officials say, and if possible, they recommend tackling the paperwork by Feb. 1.
While most families won’t have all their 2007 tax information by then, they can amend the forms at a later date.
FAFSA determines a family’s expected contribution to their child’s education, based on income and other factors, and the student’s eligibility for federal student aid, in the form of grants, loans and work study. It is also widely used by every other organization in the college financing trade.
“The FAFSA is the baseline document schools use when they determine financial aid,” said Helena Almeida, the education talent search adviser at New Bedford High School. The Education Talent Search is a federally funded program to help the children of immigrants get into college.
Guidance officials suggest parents complete their income taxes as soon as possible, because this information is required on the FAFSA form and determines eligibility for aid.
“If the parents can get their taxes done as soon as possible, that would be great,” Miss Almeida said.
“But it is more important to meet the deadlines. We stress that to the parents. If they meet the deadlines, they can always go back to add more information later.”
Completing the FAFSA is the first step in a long process of paying for college, guidance officials say.
“This is difficult, but getting started early is worthwhile,” said Ms. Helfrich of Dartmouth High School.
“If you wait until later in the year, the priority monies are gone. You can still apply for student aid later, but there is more money available now.”
Because of that, area high schools and the Massachusetts Department of Education have been pushing since Christmas to get parents started with the application process for financial aid.
Ms. Helfrich sent letters and emails to all seniors at Dartmouth High School and their parents, detailing the steps they should be taking now to finance college.
The lessons have hit home, three Dartmouth High School seniors say.
Tania Sousa, Tanisha Sylvia and Kim Smallwood met in the guidance office last week to discuss their adventures in college finance.
All three seniors are working with their parents on the FAFSA and all three are searching for scholarships. Being a college-bound senior has been a crash course in real-world economics, Miss Sousa said.
“I just realized I’ll be in debt until I’m 50,” she said. “I won’t leave my house until I’m 29.”
“I’ll join you,” Miss Smallwood said.
The search for money is coming during the busiest year the three young women have been through yet, Miss Sylvia said.
“I don’t know how we find the time,” she said. “We have school. A lot of us work and we have this responsibility. A lot of people are staying up late and getting up early.
“The good thing is that our counselors constantly remind us what we should be doing. We get nagged a lot.”
Dartmouth students aren’t alone in that.
Dartmouth and Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett have already held seminars with experts from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA). Those seminars told parents and students how to apply for financial aid, search for scholarships and approach colleges and banks for loans.
New Bedford High School will hold its MEFA program at 6 p.m. Thursday. There will be booklets and literature on hand explaining the steps in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Parents should also start communicating with the colleges that have sent acceptance letters to the student. Once the FAFSA forms are filled out and submitted, colleges will determine how much financial aid and scholarship money they will provide.
“The colleges send out a package, usually after Feb. 1, telling the student what they will provide,” Ms. Helfrich said. “For a lot of students, the financial aid available determines where they will go.”
That is true in her home, Miss Smallwood said.
“I’m looking at colleges and my parents are cringing,” she said. “I’m looking at the tuition and fees at each school. My parents keep saying, ‘UMass is a good school.’ ”
Parents and students also need to start their search for scholarships right now.
“A lot of scholarships are available that aren’t well known,” Ms. Helfrich said. “We tell parents that they want to focus on the scholarship search, that they might find some that the student overlooked.”
Churches, unions, employers and civics organizations like the Elks, the American Legion and the Masons often make scholarship money available.
“My dad has been through the financial packages and he is a little concerned,” Miss Smallwood said. “He has really been on me to apply for scholarships. That’s the next step in this.”
Students and parents can go to the reference desk at the local library for help or sift through Web sites. One site is www.fastweb.com.
“It is time consuming to sit and glean through the scholarships,” Ms. Helfrich said. “They all have different requirements. It really can be a full-time job.”
And don’t overlook high school or college resources of information.
“Parents can call directly to the guidance office,” Miss Almeida of New Bedford High School said. “We work closely with a lot of parents. I’ll sit down with the parents and show them how to do this.”
The colleges are a good resource, too.
“The parents really can’t go wrong speaking with college financial aid officers,” Ms. Helfrich said. “The colleges have the experts on staff, especially with the loan process.”
“We really encourage parents and students to use the resources at the college,” Miss Almeida said. “If they call the college for anything, they should check in with financial aid. No matter what the reason for the call, they should get transferred to financial aid for updates and to check on upcoming deadlines.”
It is, guidance officials say, a lot of work. But it is not as hard as it looks, they say.
“It is a lot like doing your taxes,” Miss Almeida said. “There is a lot to it, and there are a lot of steps, but none of the steps are really that hard.
“To many parents, it might seem arduous, but it is easier if you stay on top of it.”
Arduous is a good word for it, the three Dartmouth seniors said. All three said they wish they had started the process a year earlier.
“What I tell juniors is to get started, to pick their colleges now and to work at it now,” Miss Smallwood said. “I tell them to pick at it every day.”
“I wish I had done that,” Miss Sousa said. “Right now, we’d just like to have some time to have fun as seniors.”
Defying President Bush, Senate Passes Spending Bill for Health and Education Programs
Kelly Field, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 24, 2007
Setting the stage for a showdown with President Bush, the U.S. Senate passed a health-and-education-spending bill for 2008 on Tuesday that exceeds President Bush’s budget request by $11-billion.
The president has threatened to veto the measure over what he has called “irresponsible and excessive” spending. It would take a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to override a veto. The Senate, which approved the bill 75 to 19, apparently could muster that margin, but the House might not. It passed its version of the bill in July by a vote of 276 to 140, 14 votes shy of the two-thirds mark.
Concerns About Preserving Pell Grant Increases
The looming fight has important implications for higher education. College lobbyists fear that if Mr. Bush follows through on his veto threat and Congress cannot override it, appropriators might be forced to cut Pell Grants to secure the president’s signature.
The bill sets spending levels for the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor during the 2008 fiscal year, which began this month.
Read the entire article by clicking the title or going to http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=XwgWzdskjs8gRVMTkdhtG6hhrvt49drW
This article will be available to non-subscribers of The Chronicle for up to five days after it is posted.
Red tape putting Chelsea education agency in bind
Brian Wright O’Connor, Bay State Banner, October 18, 2007
CHELSEA, Mass. — An award-winning Upward Bound program with a 40-year record of providing a pathway to college for thousands of low-income students is facing an imminent shutdown over a disputed grant application.
Choice Thru Education, launched in the early days of the War on Poverty, provides federally funded tutoring, mentoring, college visits and application assistance to children of the Bay State’s poorest city.
In November 2006, Choice electronically filed a $320,000 grant-renewal application, amounting to 80 percent of the program’s budget over a four-year funding cycle. A computer glitch kicked back the application, so Choice then re-filed after federal officials extended the deadline.
Read the complete story by clicking the title or going to: http://www.baystatebanner.com/issues/2007/10/18/news/local10180712.htm
Illegal students’ aid scant – Private sources of college funds not widespread
Jacqueline Reis, Worcester Telegram & Gazette News, October 3, 2007
WORCESTER— There are ways to help illegal immigrants pay for college; there just aren’t many, school and college officials learned yesterday.
Carols Saavedra, a youth organizer with the Boston-based Student Immigration Movement, told attendees at the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association’s annual conference yesterday that no law prohibits illegal immigrants from going to college, but the fact that they don’t qualify for in-state tuition and federal financial aid means many can’t afford it.
There are ways around that, such as private money from a private college or scholarship fund. But there isn’t a lot of private money available, said Kathy Lewis of Mount Wachusett Community College’s Educational Opportunity Center. She attended yesterday’s conference and said she sees too many students not go to college because of the cost or take one course at a time so they can afford the bills. Her school loses “a lot” of students who take that approach, she said.
Her own family took action and established a scholarship in honor of her mother on her 70th birthday, but more needs to be done, she said.
The Student Immigration Movement hopes to open a Worcester branch and is advocating for the Educational Opportunity Act (also known as the in-state tuition bill), which would qualify students for in-state tuition at public colleges if they attended a Massachusetts high school for at least three years and have a high school diploma or GED; and the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, a federal bill that would create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant students.
What’s really needed is a change in federal immigration law, Mr. Saavedra said, because even when students make it through college, their illegal status means they can’t apply their skills in the job market.
The Colleges of Worcester Consortium recently appointed a task force on immigration, and consortium CEO Mark P. Bilotta said yesterday that there are some “stopgap” measures that students can use, such as the fact that Worcester State College’s continuing education courses cost the same for everyone and offer college credit.
Yesterday’s workshop on immigration was part of a conference at the College of Holy Cross about promoting college for students who are from low-income families, who are disabled and who otherwise might not go to college.
Dana Mohler-Faria, president of Bridgewater State College and special adviser on education to Gov. Deval L. Patrick, gave the keynote address.
Mr. Mohler-Faria’s first job out of college was to recruit women on public assistance to go back to college, and more than 30 years later, he ran into one who had become a physician.
The conference also presented $750 scholarships to four students. One was from Worcester County: Van T. Nguyen, a student at Boston College who graduated from University Park Campus School in Worcester in June.
Mass. loses college help programs, Bush administration zeroed out funding
Scott Wachtler, Boston NOW, June 4, 2007
Four Upward Bound programs in Massachusetts have lost their funding due to cuts in federal spending: MIT, Holyoke Community College, North Shore Community College and Choice Thru Education. As a result, 250 students will be denied access to the program.
Upward Bound is a United States Department of Education program built to assist high school students from backgrounds considered less likely to attend college. New DOE rules, called Absolute Priority rules, make it harder for schools all over the country and in Massachusetts to continue the program.
During the last two years the Bush administration has, “zeroed out funding,” for education programs like Upward Bound, according to Reggie Jean, president of Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association.
Many of those opposed to the Department of Education’s new rules say it over-regulates which students can participate.
Boston University’s program wasn’t the worst hit, according to program director Michael Dennehy, yet BU will see 10 fewer at-risk students come Sept. 1. “This is a result of a very difficult budget climate in Washington D.C.,” Dennehy said.
Upward Bound was started in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Its initial annual budget was $250 million. The average award has been $4,691 per student.
Ted Kennedy Writes to Margaret Spellings About Upward Bound
Click here to view a letter (in PDF format) Senator Ted Kennedy wrote to Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, expressing concerns about the loss of more than $1 million in funding for Upward Bound programs in MA.
Kennedy, Kerry Announce $4.3 Million For Massachusetts Upward Bound Programs
BOSTON, MA- Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry announced today that 12 Massachusetts colleges and public interest groups will receive grants totaling $4.3 million under the “TRIO Upward Bound” program of the U.S. Department of Education.
“Eight Hundred students in Massachusetts will benefit from these grants,” said Senator Kennedy. “It’s essential that students have the resources they need to complete high school and go on to higher education. Participants in Upward Bound have access to academic enrichment programs, tutoring, and year-round support services to prepare them more effectively for college. I’m pleased that so many students in the Commonwealth will benefit from this worthwhile program.”
“Investing in our youth is one of the smartest contributions we can make to society. This funding will enable hundreds of young people throughout Massachusetts to further their education,” said Senator Kerry. “I am pleased that the Department of Education has provided this funding to allow our future generations to follow their dreams.”
The grantees are:
Applicant City Amount
American International College Springfield $249,997
Boston University Boston $385,473
Bristol Community College Fall River $345,431
Fitchburg State College Fitchburg $346,062
Middlesex Community College Lowell $250,000
Northfield Mount Hermon School Northfield $346,530
Roxbury Community College Roxbury $292,810
Salem State College Salem $325,395
The Education Resources Institute, Inc. Boston $250,000
University of Massachusetts/Boston Boston $565,178
University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth North Dartmouth $408,147
Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. Worcester $250,000
Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. Worcester $293,163
MEOA Pioneers Internet Fundraising Initiative and will be Recognized by GoodSearch.com
Boston, MA, May 8 — GoodSearch, the Yahoo-powered search engine, will recognize an innovative fundraising model by the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association, by naming MEOA as Charity of the Day on May 12, 2007.
MEOA held a “Click-A-Thon” event between April 23 and May 4 and informed members, educators, students, businesses, friends and family to use GoodSearch for their internet searches and designate MEOA as its non-profit charity through emails and flyers. According to GoodSearch, this was the first time there has ever been a Click-A-Thon, or fundraising event of this kind.
GoodSearch (http://www.goodsearch.com) will feature MEOA on its homepage on May 12, 2007 and raise awareness of the need for educational opportunity in the state of Massachusetts and the work that educational opportunity professionals do.
“We are excited that we are the first to ever do a fundraising initiative like the Click-A-Thon. I credit our board and the membership for continuing to think of creative ways to help the students that we serve. We welcome this recognition from GoodSearch as it demonstrates support for the work of hundreds of educators that work to provide educational access and opportunity for students who are often forgotten in Massachusetts. This has been MEOA’s mission since 1984 and we welcome the help of GoodSearch, all our sponsors, and elected officials in working to make sure all students with college potential can earn college degrees,” stated Reggie Jean, President of the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association.
GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. Individuals use GoodSearch exactly as they would any other search engine. Because it’s powered by Yahoo!, it provides proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to a designated cause comes from its advertisers and does not come from site users or organizations.
Letter to Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings
Click here to view a letter (in PDF format) to Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, regarding the implementation of the proposed evaluation of Upward Bound. The letter was signed by Barney Frank, Jim McGovern, John F. Tierney, Edward Markey, William Delahunt, Marty Meehan, John Olver, Richard Neal, Michael Capuano, and Stephen Lynch.
New Financial Aid Estimator – FAFSA4caster – now available
The U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid is pleased to announce the release of FAFSA4caster, a new Web tool designed to assist high school juniors and their families plan for education beyond high school. Students can receive an estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC) by entering their information into FAFSA4caster, a simplified version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA4caster also provides guidance on next steps for applying for admission, applying for federal student aid, and paying for education beyond high school.
Background
In September 2005, the Secretary of Education formed the bipartisan Commission on the Future of Higher Education to launch a national dialogue on the vital issues of accessibility, affordability, and accountability in higher education. One of the needs identified in the Commission’s final report was to notify students of their federal student aid eligibility earlier in order to help families plan better. We have developed FAFSA4caster to address this need.
FAFSA4caster Benefits
FAFSA4caster is a companion piece to the official FAFSA on the Web. The free FAFSA4caster tool will assist high school juniors and their families in the following ways:
- Instantly calculate an estimated EFC
- Inform the student of potential Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) eligibility
- Reduce the time needed to complete the FAFSA when the student applies as a senior
FAFSA4caster Access
Students and families interested in assessing their eligibility for federal student aid can access FAFSA4caster by visiting www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov. The links for FAFSA4caster are located in the lower right corner of the home page.
Spanish FAFSA4caster
Students will be able to access a Spanish version of FAFSA4caster on April 29, 2007.
Contact Information
We look forward to better serving students and families through this new Web product. If you have any questions about FAFSA4caster, contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).
Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, February 6, 2007
Among other major elements, the 2008 budget for the Education Department would:
Increase the maximum Pell Grant by $550 over the current level (or $290 over the $4,310 amount the 2007 budget plan Congressional leaders are crafting would raise it to) in 2008 and by $200 more each year until it hit $5,400, in 2012. The administration’s plan would also make some programmatic changes to the Pell Grant Program, making the grants available year-round, limiting a student to 16 semesters on the grants, and eliminating a rule that awards bigger grants to students at costlier institutions (a concept known “tuition sensitivity”), among other things.
Pay for the Pell Grant increase in part by adding the SEOG Program (which received $770 million in 2006, the last complete budget year) to the list of student-aid programs that the Bush administration has tried to kill in recent years, joining the Perkins Loan Program and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships Program, which provides federal matching funds to states that provide need-based aid. Congress has fought to save those programs from the budget axe, and higher education lobbyists are hoping they do the same with SEOG, which provides grants of up to $4,000 to the neediest of students, most of whom also receive Pell Grants.
Break with recent Bush administration tradition and not seek to slash funds for the TRIO and Gear Up programs, both of which offer services aimed at encouraging low-income middle and high-school students to attend college. Although the administration has argued in past years that the programs are ineffective and that the president’s signature No Child Left Behind program would better accomplish their goals, it appears to have changed its tune this year.
For the entire article click on the title.
Richer Students Receive Much More Merit-Based Aid Than Do Poorer Ones, Study Finds
Elizabeth F. Farrell, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 17, 2007
Merit scholarships are disproportionately awarded to students from high-income families, and the percentage of merit aid colleges give out, compared to need-based aid, has increased significantly since 1994, according to report scheduled for release today.
From 1994 to 2004, students from families in the top-income quartile ($111,170 or higher annually) received three times as much merit aid as students in the lowest income quartile ($37,745 or less). Families in the lowest quartile spend 58 percent of their income on the net price of college, compared with 12 percent of income for families in the highest income group, according to the report, which was issued by Eduventures, an education-consulting company.
Duriing the same 10-year span, the proportion of merit aid to total grant aid distributed increased (from 6 percent to 16 percent). The total amount of financial aid awarded from federal, state, and insitutional grants reached $39-billion in 2004, compared with a total of $7-billion in merit aid.
The distribution of need-based and merit aid varied depending on the type of institution. Public institutions that cost $16,819 to $28,828 a year had the smallest difference between their tuition discounts for merit compared with need. Private institutions that cost more than $28,828 provided the highest proportion of need-based aid, and used merit aid only sparingly, according to the study.
Other findings in the report reinforce the assumption that the “line is blurring” between need-based and non-need-based aid. As students’ SAT scores rise, so do their awards of need-based aid. Students in the lowest income quartile who scored at or below 1140 on the SAT received, on average, $8,403 in financial aid, while the mean award for students with the same family income who scored at or above 1261 was $10,820.
The data suggest, according to the report, that “need-based awards may be used, in part, as a recruiting mechanism to attract students of relatively higher academic profiles.”
Differences in merit aid are particularly striking between students who scored very high on the SAT and those who got a perfect or almost-perfect score. The average merit-based award for students who earned a 1560 was $7,500, compared with a mean award in excess of $20,000 for students who scored above that.
The report is based on a study that surveyed 20,000 students at eight public institutions and two private ones. It is available only to Eduventures clients.
Quick Takes: Democratic Senators Rally Around Upward Bound…
Scott Jaschik and Elia Powers, Inside Higher Ed, December 1. 2006
Six Democratic senators are calling on Congress to block the Education Department from making changes in the eligibility requirements for the Upward Bound program that helps prepare disadvantaged students for college. The Education Department’s proposals have been opposed by many educators, who say that they would hinder a program that has been highly effective. The senators who are opposing the change are: Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Barack Obama of Illinois, and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
Reggie Jean begins term as president of state association for educational access and equity
Boston University School of Education, News & Events, Novemeber 15, 2006
Reggie Jean, academic coordinator for the Boston University Upward Bound program, is serving as president of the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association (MEOA). Reggie, who was elected in 2005, began his term at the MEOA 22nd Annual Conference on October 24. Founded in 1984, the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association is a non-profit organization made up of educators, admissions representatives, policy makers, professionals in the private sector and other individuals committed to ensuring that secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities are appropriate and accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For more information on MEOA, please visit www.meoaonline.org.
Education Department Hears From Students and Accreditors in Rule-Making Session
Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 9, 2006
More than 50 college students, lobbyists, and accreditors testified before Education Department officials here on Wednesday in the last of four public hearings held to discuss changes in regulations affecting colleges and the organizations that accredit them.
The hearing marked the end of the first stage of a process known as negotiated rule making, in which the department will work with higher-education stakeholders to craft changes to the rules that govern accreditation and a new grant program for academically talented low-income students. The rule-making sessions may also be used to put into effect some of the recommendations of the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education.
More than 20 students spoke at the hearing, urging the department to ease the student-loan repayment burden for financially needy college graduates. Some wore red shirts with a white lifeguard’s cross and the slogan “Department of Education, Save Me Now” on the front, and “I’m Drowning in Student Debt” on the back.
The students, who came from colleges as far away as Massachusetts, testified that rising debt was forcing students to work longer hours, forgo careers in teaching and public service, and delay marriage and childbirth. They asked the department to adopt proposals advanced by a nonprofit group, the Project on Student Debt, that would, among other things, change how the government determines “economic hardship” for purposes of loan deferment and combine the revised benefit with an existing option, income-contingent repayment.
Students have turned out in large numbers for all of the negotiated rule-making hearings, which began in September. Over the four hearings, more than 150 students from 14 states testified, said Luke Swarthout, a higher-education associate with the State Public Interest Research Groups.
Meanwhile, representatives of accrediting agencies urged the department to wait until Congress completes the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act to make any changes in the regulations governing accreditation, noting that lawmakers could require the agency to make additional changes. The reauthorization bill has cleared committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, but will have to be reintroduced next year when Congress reconvenes under Democratic control.
Accreditors and department staff members will discuss potential rule changes on November 29, in a meeting scheduled by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in response to the higher-education commission’s report. Among other recommendations, the commission said the accreditation process should become more transparent and more focused on student-learning outcomes.
In their testimony, the accreditors stressed that they were already doing a great deal to measure student learning, and warned against adopting the commission’s recommendation that the results of accreditation reviews of colleges be made public.
Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, urged the department to work with accreditors to craft the regulations, and not impose them unilaterally.
“This needs to be a cooperative effort, not an effort where we find ourselves responding to various prescriptions,” she said.
Several speakers objected to the department’s plan to focus federal resources for the Upward Bound program on students at high risk of academic failure. That priority, outlined in the Federal Register this fall, specifies that such high-risk students must constitute no less than 30 percent of new participants in Upward Bound.
Constance Kelly-Rice, director of the Upward Bound Program at Saint Paul’s College, in Virginia, said the change would replace local decision making with bureaucratic mandate. “This deprives students who are not failing from receiving some services,” she said, adding that “some students may be surviving in school but at risk of failing in life.”
Other speakers criticized the department’s plan to recruit students to serve as a “control group” in an assessment of the Upward Bound Program, calling the plan “inhumane and unethical.”
There was relatively less comment on the regulations governing two new grant programs created by Congress earlier this year: the Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and the Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant Program. Higher-education lobbyists have told the Education Department that the agency’s interim guidelines — which are to expire at the end of the 2007-8 academic year — are “unworkable,” in part because they require students to determine whether they qualify for the grants and institutions to verify whether students completed a rigorous course of study in high school.
At the hearing, Cynthia A. Littlefield, director of federal relations for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, suggested that the department create a “centralized clearinghouse” responsible for determining student eligibility for the grants. And Dallas Martin, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, recommended that the agency establish a “safe harbor” to protect institutions against punishment for implementation actions taken before the release of the final regulations.
Colleges, he argued, have made a “good faith” effort to comply with the regulations, given the limited regulatory guidance they have received, and should not be penalized for misinterpreting the law.
A few speakers asked the department to make it easier for students to transfer credits from one institution to another. Rolf Lundberg, senior vice president for Congressional and public affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, suggested that institutions be required to establish and publish clear transfer-of-credit policies, and be prohibited from denying credit solely on the basis of the accreditor. Some colleges refuse credits from proprietary schools because the institutions are accredited by national, rather than regional, organizations.
“If accreditation meets the standards of the Education Department, it ought to be sufficient,” agreed Patricia A. Kapper, chief academic officer of the Career Education Corporation, one of the country’s biggest for-profit higher-education companies.
Formal rule-making sessions with college leaders and other interested parties will begin in December and run through March. The department plans to set up four panels, with one focusing exclusively on the new grant programs. The other panels will focus on regulations governing the federal student-loan programs, other student-aid issues, and accreditation. The department is accepting nominations for negotiators through today.
Letter to the Editor: TRIO Programs a Help to Students
Michael Dennehy, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 3, 2006
To the Editor:
I reacted with disappointment and disagreement to Chester E. Finn Jr.’s assertion that the TRIO programs are part of what he labeled a “remediation industry” that has a vested interest in opposing policy reforms to unify K-16 systems (“Obstacles on the Route From High School to College,” School & College, March 10).
Standards-based high-school reforms and revisions to admissions standards for higher education have been ongoing efforts in Massachusetts since the mid-1990s and predate many national efforts. From the outset, Upward Bound at Boston University and many other TRIO programs in the state have recognized the need to support these reforms and have organized their services to help program participants meet these standards. At Boston University, we have had great success in helping many program participants who failed their middle-school state assessments meet their high-school graduation requirements and matriculate at college.
The article is available for Chronicle subscribers.
Elia Powers, Inside Higher Ed, March 21, 2006
With less than five months until the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education is set to release its final report to Secretary Margaret Spellings, this much is evident: Commissioners will have no lack of information, no shortage of opinions and no scarcity of student anecdotes from which to draw.
Mary Fifield, president of Bunker Hill Community College, in Massachusetts, said low-income students are being pushed to the side when the budget calls for no increases in the maximum Pell Grant and the elimination of programs, like GEAR UP and some of the TRIO programs, that help underrepresented students learn about their college options. She recommended that eligibility for Academic Competitiveness Grants be extended to part-time students, as well.
Press Release: MEOA President to Appear on National Radio Program
Boston, MA, May 25, 2007 – Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association (MEOA) President, Reggie Jean, will appear on the Renny Roker Show on XM Radio on Sat, June 2 from 7-10AM and Wed, June 6 from 6-9AM (encore broadcast). Once it first airs, it will be available on http://www.rennyroker.com for a week. Reggie talks about the state educational opportunity association and how MEOA has used GoodSearch to raise revenue for important initiatives. GoodSearch, the Yahoo-powered search engine, recognized the Association, by naming MEOA Charity of the Day on May 12, 2007.
MEOA held what may have been the first ever “Click-A-Thon” event between April 23 and May 4 and informed members, educators, students, businesses, friends and family to use GoodSearch as their exclusive internet search site and designate MEOA as its non-profit charity. When the Renny Roker Show contacted GoodSearch about non-profit programs to be featured on the show, Good Searched referred them to MEOA.
“Renny’s show is about positivism and so is the work that we do in Massachusetts in helping hundreds of disadvantaged students earn college degrees each year. So it was a great fit. I appreciate GoodSearch for thinking of us. It was an honor to go on the program and talk about our connection with GoodSearch, and highlight the many programs in Massachusetts designed to give students hope and the tools to access the American dream,” Reggie Jean said.
About MEOA
Founded in 1984, the Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization made up of educators, policy makers, professionals in the private sector and other individuals committed to ensuring that secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities are appropriate and accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. A large majority of its members are educators from TRIO and GEAR UP projects. For more information on these programs and MEOA, go to www.meoaonline.org.
About The Renny Roker Show
The Renny Roker Show is on XM 60 Soul Street on Saturdays: 7 – 10 am EST and Wednesdays: 6 – 9am EST. Part time actor, and full time radio personality Renny Roker debuts his three hour blend, of music, comedy and funky features into a Soul Street good time. There are several reasons why The Renny Roker Show is so appealing… POSITIVITY is just one of them! Renny’s warm voice, entertainment insights, music selections, and positive message make him a hit with listeners.
About http://www.goodsearch.com
GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. Individuals use GoodSearch exactly as they would any other search engine. Because it’s powered by Yahoo!, it provides proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to a designated cause comes from its advertisers and does not come from site users or organizations.
Contact: Reggie Jean, Massachusetts Educational Opportunity Association, at 617-353-5195 or reggie.jean@meoaonline.org.
Expanded aid for college is proposed: Middle class may get more grants
Sarah Schweitzer, Boston Globe, October 19, 2006
State higher education officials proposed yesterday to give middle-class families, strapped by rising college costs, access to state grants that now go to only the poorest families.
The more than $175 million overhaul of the state’s college financial aid system, which a task force will present today to the state Board of Higher Education, would require approval by the board and the Legislature.
Under the new proposal, families with incomes of $70,000 or less would qualify for the need-based MASSGrant, with additional factors, like family size and number of college students in a family, determining how much grant money would go to which students. The grants can be used for public or private colleges in the state or in the other five New England states, Pennsylvania, or Washington, D.C., with which Massachusetts has reciprocal agreements allowing out-of-state students to use their state aid in the other state.
Chancellor Patricia F. Plummer said that the new proposal is part of an effort to keep the middle class living in Massachusetts, where the high cost of living can prove too much for residents who also carry heavy debt from college.
“This is about the economy of Massachusetts,” Plummer said. “The debt burdens that students are taking on only make living here that much more difficult. We want to try to keep young people here in Massachusetts.”
Note: Dr. Plummer will deliver the keynote address at the 2006 MEOA Conference.
Click on title above for link to complete article
Education Leaders Say Financial Barriers to Degree Attainment Require Urgent Response
Jane R. Porter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 14, 2006
Higher-education leaders came together on Tuesday to discuss a recent report on financial barriers to college access and degree completion, and warned that a failure to find solutions could threaten not only the prospects of individual students but the status of the nation as a whole.
The session was part of a hearing held by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a panel that advises Congress and that released last week’s report on financial barriers for students from low- to moderate-income families (The Chronicle, 09/14/06 [Note: Subscription Required]).
William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland and one of the presenters at the session, expressed concern with the report’s findings about the effects of rising college costs and insufficient financial aid for disadvantaged students. “We as a nation are at risk of creating a permanent underclass,” he said.
The report, “Mortgaging Our Future: How Financial Barriers to College Undercut America’s Global Competitiveness,” has a particular urgency, he said, because of coming mass retirements of baby boomers and the risk of replacing them with less qualified candidates, he said.
Arnold L. Mitchem, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education and one of the panelists, said the report could serve as a way to “galvanize Americans in understanding what the stakes really are” in the persistence of such financial barriers.
Mr. Mitchem, whose organization lobbies on behalf of the federal TRIO programs for disadvantaged students, was among several panel members who expressed alarm at the report’s estimate that up to 2.4-million bachelor’s degrees will be lost in this decade because of financial barriers.
Report Blames College Practices for Limiting Access of Minority and Low-Income Students
Sam Kean, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 1, 2006
Federal agencies, state governments, and especially institutions of higher education are driving students who are from low-income families or are members of minority groups away from colleges and universities, according to a study released on Thursday that analyzed class mobility and racial matriculation rates in academe. The study concluded not only that such students face greater financial burdens than ever before, but also that those who end up at college are “attending in ways far less likely to lead to a degree.”
Higher education has become “simply another agent of stratification,” says the report, produced by the Education Trust, a nonprofit research-and-advocacy organization, which did not blame any one group for that outcome. The group noted that federal Pell grants have leveled off in recent years and have not kept up with rising tuition costs, and also that state-government aid to low-income students has increased at smaller rates than aid to middle-class and wealthy students.
But the report, “Promise Abandoned: How Policy Choices and Institutional Practices Restrict College Opportunities,” also faulted universities and colleges for hindering access to higher education, especially through practices that are often hidden from the public. At a news conference on Thursday, Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust and author of the report, singled out the two-pronged practice of “enrollment management” as especially troublesome.
Tell It to the Judge: Mock trial will test persuasive skills of Upward Bound students
John Thompson, Tell It to the Judge: Mock trial will test persuasive skills of Upward Bound students, July 27, 2006
A teenager is asked to leave a convenience store; he refuses and is arrested on the spot. Is the arrest justified? Or does it violate his civil rights?
Those questions and others surrounding this fictional event will spark an evening of discussion, debate, and legal wrangling at a mock trial that will take place at 6:30 in the moot court room at the BU School of Law. The case, called “Brown vs. Lawrence and the Metro City Police,” will be argued by two teams of Upward Bound high school students who have been meeting twice a week to prepare for battle. Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore will act as judge.
“BU has always been supportive of Upward Bound” says Reggie Jean, academic coordinator for the program. “Because of the University, we’ve been able to provide enrichment opportunities the students otherwise might not have had.”
Marcella Bombardieri, Boston Globe, April 30, 2006
Families of students attending college in New England are taking on far more debt than they did a decade ago and spending a much greater share of their income on private college in particular, a new study says.
Advisory Panel Hears Pleas for Increased Federal Student Aid and Against Accountability Testing
Kelly Field, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 21, 2006
College presidents and students who attended a public hearing here on Monday urged a federal advisory panel to recommend an increase in federal student aid and to reject one-size-fits-all accountability measures.
During a morning session of the hearing, held by five members of the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, nine presidents and chancellors of colleges and universities and dozens of students described the difficulties that needy students face in pursuing a higher education and warned of mounting student debt in the face of declining federal support.
The article is available for Chronicle subscribers.
In testimony, college presidents’ city a shaky future
Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist, March 21, 2006
THE ERUDITENESS of New England’s college presidents did not mask their growing tone of concern as they testified on the future of higher education before the federal commission that came to Boston yesterday for a public hearing.
In her prepared remarks, Fifield said that the freeze of Pell grants and growing exclusivity of grants targeted to students who go to the best high schools for math and science, which tend not to be in inner cities or rural districts, “serve as disincentives to low-income students.” Fifield reminded the commission that most low-income students do not have the option of selecting their high schools and thus would silently be cut off from targeted grants, while “merit-based financial aid programs appear to help students who need financial assistance least.”
Further, she noted how the Bush administration wants to cut pre-college preparation programs such as Upward Bound. She flatly called for a rise in Pell grants and the continuance of programs like Upward Bound. She said the country’s politicians need to stop blocking undocumented immigrants from aspiring to higher education, especially those who have lived most of their lives in the United States and have already been educated in America’s public schools.
U.S. Senate passes budget resolution expanding education funding!
Council for Opportunity in Education, March 16, 2006
Today (March 16th, 2006) the Senate passed an amendment to the FY 2007 Budget Resolution, led by Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Harkin (D-IA), to provide an additional $7 billion over the President’s budget request for education and health care programs (including TRIO and Gear Up). This allows Congress to fund the FY 2007 Labor-HHS bill at the levels enacted two years ago.
This amendment would put the Senate budget number for TRIO at $836.5 million, the same number that was allotted in FY 2005. This is a huge win in the Senate because the amendment was lead by the two Senators who have control over the Labor/HHS bill (which funds TRIO). Restoring funding to the FY05 level will make it possible to save programs like TRIO and Gear Up that are on the President’s chopping block.
It is important to remember, however, that this amendment does not allocate funds for TRIO. It simply states where the Senate feels funding should be directed and is a step in the right direction.
A letter will soon be distributed from Senators Collins, Lincoln and Landrieu to Senators Specter and Harkin, requesting that TRIO funds be increased by $100 million for FY 2007. The fact that Specter and Harkin are proposing a much larger education budget means that a TRIO increase is possible this year.
New PART Scores Showcase More Contradictions of Program
OMB Watch, March 7, 2006
Shortly after the Office of Management and Budget released the President’s FY 2007 budget, the agency released a list of the 141 programs slated for cuts or elimination in the president’s State of the Union address due to their lack of results. These cuts to discretionary programs would save nearly $15 billion in FY07–$7.3 billion by terminating 91 programs and $7.4 billion by cutting funding for another 50–a drop in the bucket in the larger budget picture. This year, the administration’s funding recommendations not only continue to illustrate the subjectivity and inconsistency of the PART itself, but also calls into question the reasoning underlying the PART, that is, the White House’s dedication to good program management and objective results.
Pell Grant Spending Would Remain Level, but Bush Seeks to Eliminate Perkins Loans and Several Other Programs
Chronicle of Higher Education
The budget request for the 2007 fiscal year that President Bush unveiled on Monday had little good news for financially needy students, particularly those who are not high academic achievers.
Under the spending plan, the maximum Pell Grant would remain at $4,050 for the fifth year in a row. And for the second consecutive year, the president is calling on Congress to eliminate the Perkins Loan Program and require colleges to return the federal share of the money they use to make new Perkins Loans to students from low- and middle-income families.
School aid plan sets up debate: System’s fairness questioned by some
Maria Sacchetti and Tracy Jan, Globe Staff, January 26, 2006 (Boston.com login may be required)
J. Keith Motley, June 11, 2005
ACROSS MASSACHUSETTS, thousands of graduating seniors are tossing their mortarboards in the air, celebrating their completion of high school and suddenly shifting their focus to what life will be like as college freshmen.Many of those new graduates will be the first in their families to go to college, and they might never have contemplated the possibility but for a range of college outreach programs funded with federal dollars and implemented at the local level.
J. Keith Motley is vice president for business and public affairs at the University of Massachusetts
War Veteran will look for college help from UMASS Boston Veteran Upward Bound. Throws out first pitch at Fenway. (June 2, 2005)
Chris Snow, Globe Staff, June 2, 2005
“But then came Kuwait and Iraq and Walter Reed. Today, Damon — who also has a 3-year-old son, Danny — is enrolling in Veterans Upward Bound, a program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston that prepares veterans for college. His education will be paid for, he said, and he’s contemplating attending UMass or Bridgewater State College.”
TRIO students and supporters join Senator Ted Kennedy in Support of Education Funding
TRIO students and supporters join Senator Ted Kennedy in Support of Education Funding. Watch Video
Justin Ewers, US NEws and World Report, May 02, 2005
Before Jamie Sparano arrived at Princeton University as a freshman last fall, she didn’t think she was that unusual. Her father, a New Jersey building contractor with a community-college degree, makes close to the national median family income, which is roughly $51,000. Her stay-at-home mom never attended college. Most of the families she knew at Ewing High School on the outskirts of Trenton looked a lot like hers.
MWCC sends representatives to Capitol Hill to oppose president’s education cuts
WASHINGTON — Melissa Garniau told her story on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
In the House office buildings surrounding the Capitol, she recounted how her parents didn’t attend college, and how they urged her not to either.
But Garniau, now a 24-year-old graduate student at Fitchburg State College, followed another path, and took college preparatory programs that now serve more than 350 low-income students in Fitchburg and Leominster.
AIC receives grant to help students
SPRINGFIELD– Low income, first generation, college students, and students with disabilities will have a better chance of succeeding at American International College, thanks to a grant from the Department of Education.
American International College was one of just four private colleges in Massachusetts to be awarded an $880,000, four-year, Department of Education, Title IV federal TRIO, Student Supportive Services Grant. Boston College, Brandeis University and Mount Ida College were the other private Massachusetts colleges to receive the award.
Letter from Senator John Kerry
Dear Mr. Faulkerson:
Thank you for contacting me about your support for the Upward Bound and Talent Search Programs. I appreciate hearing from you.
Senate Takes Major Step Forward in TRIO and GEAR UP Battle
The Senate voted today to restore $2.7 billion in higher education funding above the level included in the President’s budget. This is sufficient to provide a several hundred dollar increase in Pell and sufficient to restore funding for TRIO and GEAR UP. All the Democrats and 6 Republicans voted (51-49) for the amendment introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Please immediately thank the Senators who voted for the amendment, with special attention to the Republicans who broke ranks to do so (See list below). Please also thank Senator Kennedy and Senator Clinton for their leadership. Senator Clinton’s smaller amendment to restore TRIO and GEAR UP funding was made unnecessary by the passage of Kennedy’s amendment
The Beaumont Foundation of America has awarded 2 laptops to MEOA. One laptop will be awarded to a pre-college student; the other will be awarded to a student who is currently enrolled in college. To be considered for one of these laptops, a Massachusetts TRIO student, along with his/her program director, must fully complete the attached application.
President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal
MEOA strongly opposes President Bush’s proposal to eliminate GEAR UP, TRIO Talent Search and TRIO Upward Bound. His plan would terminate critical academic support services to over 7,600 TRIO participants and over 11,600 GEAR UP participants in Massachusetts. The majority of participants are low-income and first-generation college students. For the latest national information on this situation, visit the Council for Opportunity in Education’s website at http://www.coenet.us
2005 Media Coverage on Massachusetts TRIO, GEAR UP, and other educational opportunity Programs
