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What's the issue? Who is financially responsible for the cost of education?

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What's the issue? Who is financially responsible for the cost of education?

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The Higher Education Act 1965 provides opportunities in financial assistance for higher education, institutions are not legally responsible for student financial issue. This is very apparent in student loans, tuition cost depending ion where students enroll and in grants like the MN Future together grant. Specifically in the MN State system Students are responsible for their own financial literacy, needs and usage. Financial literacy has always been a topic and maybe practice, but not a policy.

According to The Office of MN Attorney General Keith Ellison (2023), "In Minnesota alone, over 775 thousand people owe a total of $29.1 billion in student debt".

For this presentation, our focus is on Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC), which is a MN State College & Universities.

I believe institutions have a share responsibility in helping student through financial literacy and decision making. I propose a policy to have individualized financial advisors available to all student at every institution.

https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Office/Communications/2023/09/06_StudentLoanDebt.asp

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-The FAFSA application is accepted at all MN State College & Universities.

-Not all institutions interpret FAFSA or communicate financial literacy effectively or in the same way to students.

-Students are not required to apply for FAFSA before enrollment.

-Institutions varies in offices which helps with FAFSA application by different departments (eg, One Stop, Financial aid office, Some Advising Offices and/or TRIO).

-Institutions varies in office which helps with financial literacy.

-This is a prime example of students going through many departments or get shuffle around when seeking financial help (including tuition, child care, emergency grants, and food resources).

-Some departments including the financial aid office may not give the best advise on a student’s financial aid package information to the fullest. This issue may include lack of universal financial verbiage.

FAFSA & Financial literacy is a practice not a policy!

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Financial literacy is a practice not a policy!

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Financial literacy is a practice not a policy!

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Financial literacy is a practice not a policy!

Institutions are not responsible for student financial issues. Resources may be offered.

Students are responsible for their own financial situation. Need help? Well look for it! You are one your own!

Don't forget MN State Goals are Student Success, Institutional excellences & quality, Communication Collaboration & Partnerships and MN state College & University System Leadership.

Student Success: Students at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will have the opportunity to achieve their educational and career goals through high quality learning and support services matched to their talents and abilities.

https://www.minnstate.edu/board/goalsvalues.html

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1. Policy 5.12 Tuition and Fee Due Dates, Refunds, Withdrawals and Waivers, which requires institution to post up their tuition & fee information with deadline. Also, given definition if add and drop withdraw. https://www.minnstate.edu/board/policy/512.html

2. System Procedure 2.9.1 Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress, which covers good-academic standing needed for using Financial aid, including the definition and procedures for getting on Financial Aid Suspension.

https://www.minnstate.edu/board/procedure/209p1.html

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First information given on ARCC Tuition Webpage is tuition rates and fees by semester.

Another web page available is "Pay your Tuition" webpage shows students should pay tuition by the due date or make a payment plan. which goes over 4 ways to pay tuition. Nothing about FAFSA.

1. Paying online

2. Pay Via a Payment Plan

3. Pay in Person

4. Pay by Mail

Miss information or not enough information? Where is FAFSA? In a small box to the right side of the webpage shows;

More Ways to Pay:

1. Third party providers

2. Scholarships, Loans, grant s

3. Work-study

Notice a small box in the column labeled "Apply for Financial aid (before tuition deadline)". We must receive your Financial Aid application by the tuition deadline to hold your classes. Otherwise, students must pay their tuition in full or set up a payment plan by tuition due date. Any tuition and fees not paid by Financial Aid will remain the student's responsibility.

This gives the impression that there is a FAFSA deadline before class starts.

This gives the impression students can't apply for FAFSA once class has started.

Which gives the impression students are ineligible for aid.

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Pay your Tuition - Anoka Ramsey Community College

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Anoka-Ramsey Community College is a multi-campus institution and a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

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1. New student Milo is a low-income and first generation students. He met with an Admission Counselor and applied to ARCC for Fall semester. Milo has been accepted and met with Academic Advisor to register for classes. Classes are going well however Milo keeps getting emails about his unpaid tuition balance. Milo is stress about the bill, knowing if he pays this bill little by little, then it would take-away from his grocery budget. Milo ends the semester with passing C grades, but failed one course. Milo was not able to register for Spring semester because of the unpaid balance. Milo decides to stop attending college because he does not have money for school and feels discouraged. 3 months later his balance went to collections and the calls are non-stop. Could this have been avoided?

Who is responsible for Milo's poor grades? Milo is.

Who is responsible for Student Success? Milo and ARCC.

Who is responsible for the bill? Milo is.

Who is responsible for applying to FAFSA? Milo is.

Who is responsible for retention? ARCC

Who is responsible to call Milo about the balance???

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According to MN State College & Universities, 63% of MN State Students receive some form or combination of financial aid to help pay for college off offset costs.

Unfortunately, Financial aid referrers to Grants, scholarships, students loans and work-study.

https://www.minnstate.edu/admissions/financialaid.html#:~:text=Overall%2C%2063%25%20of%20Minnesota%20State,for%20college%20or%20offset%20costs.

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According to Krista Kaput, EdAllies' Research Director of EdAllies.org, only 48% of Minnesota Class of 2021 seniors applied for FAFSA and an estimated $2.3 billion annually is left on the table.

https://edalliesmn.org/blog/less-than-half-of-mn-students-completed-fafsa-its-time-for-state-action/

Don't forget we are only talking about applicants. This does not include students who didn't attend college, include students who actually are eligible for aid and students who didn't complete the whole FAFSA application process & missing paper work.

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For the Minnesota class of 2021 , only 48% of seniors filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)-a form that determines current and prospective college students' financial aid eligibility. This puts Minnesota at 38th in the nation . And, we're doing even worse for some student groups: just 22% of Indigenous, 27% of Latino, 38% of Black, and 41% of multiracial Minnesota students completed the FAFSA.

In response to these low filing rates and gaps, earlier this month, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) announced a new state goal to increase FAFSA filing rates by five percentage points every year for the next five years, with a focus on closing FAFSA filing gaps for students of color.

Why FAFSA Completion Matters

Low FAFSA filing rates don't just reflect gaps in other areas. Instead, they can contribute to exacerbating them as students move on from high school. FAFSA completion rates are positively correlated with college enrollment and can be important early indicators of postsecondary access and success by opening up student aid opportunities and helping to remove financial barriers.

Ultimately, FAFSA completion ensures that students who are eligible for federal aid-Pell Grants, subsidized student loans, work-study, and state aid programs-receive the money that they are entitled to pay for college. However, it's estimated that at least $2.3 billion annually is left on the table because students did not realize they would've been eligible for aid. In some cases, students may be eligible for significant support, and completing the FAFSA can help map out a path they may have otherwise assumed was unaffordable.

States Take Action to Increase FAFSA Completion

The issue of low FAFSA completion rates is not unique to Minnesota. In fact, seven states have taken legislative action to address the issue. In 2015, Louisiana became the first state to pass a law requiring students to complete the FAFSA as a prerequisite for high school graduation, starting with the class of 2018. And the policy has been highly successful. Louisiana is now first in the country for FAFSA completion, with high schools increasing FAFSA completion rates amongst graduating seniors by 19 percentage points. More notably, college admissions have increased as well.

And, how is the policy working from an equity lens? The effects were more concentrated amongst schools that had larger populations of low-income students, and researchers didn't find any evidence that the policy created a barrier to high school graduation. On the contrary, they found that high school graduation rates increased.

Next Steps for Minnesota

During the 2021 legislative session, a bill was introduced in the House that would have required FAFSA completion for high school graduation. It would have also required the Department of Education and Office of Higher Education to convene a working group to make recommendations on supporting schools and students to fulfill the FAFSA completion requirement. While no action was taken on the bill, given the low Minnesota FAFSA completion rates and gaps, this policy is worth considering in 2022. While local work can continue to happen in the meantime, it's clear that setting the bar at the state level can positively impact and ensure action across every district so that no students are left behind.

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Less Than Half of MN Students Completed the FAFSA. It's Time for State Action. - EdAllies

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For the Minnesota class of 2021, only 48% of seniors filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)-a form [...]

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Policy Recommendation: Every Penny Counts

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Policy Recommendation: Every Penny Counts

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Recommending institutions to have a designated Individualized Financial Advisors available for students; in the areas of finance related issues, financial management and financial literacy. This is a tool to personal budgeting & finance issues. This includes having a centralized office for student financial needs and resources.

This office is in-charge in all aspects of tuition billing & payments, FAFSA, financial aid, emergency funds, resources and scholarship workshops to students.

This office will have open office hours and one-on-one appts available to students during normal work hours. All will go through a financial orientation hold requirement prior to courses starting.

This mission of this office is to address financial retention efforts and initiate strategic & individualized outreaches to student financial support; such as students with no FAFSA on file and with tuition balances and students who are eligible for additional grants. The repeated efforts for data pulling and outreach is very important as students could still get Fall semester paid for and /or reimbursed even if no FAFSA was completed until summer deadline of that academic year.

This office values in one-on-one relationships to create trust in the student's success at the institution and providing financial resources.

Financial resources may include food resources/ pantry/ SNAP, credit card information, private & public loan information, child care grants & public child care, emergency grants, tuition payment options, FAFSA and scholarships for allocation and/or to off set costs.

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We hope with the required financial orientation prior to registration, this will help student Milo with financial literacy, financial awareness and encouragement to ask questions.

Active outreaches by the financial Advisor team, prior to the beginning of the semester will help engage student sooner and be financially prepared.

Short-term & Long-term effects: We want to eliminate or reduce the stress of not knowing if tuition is paid for, if not-how much does a student have to come up with for remaining balances, if students could charge books right away or is it out of pocket, if courses schedule will be held or dropped and if students should actively see scholarships. Not to mention other resources available such as grants and food assistance to help student budget and financial allocation.

We hope to retain Milo as a student until graduation.

Milo being college debt free would be our dream goal.