Students who come from low-income families are less likely to receive financial aid for higher education institutions than those from higher income families, according to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. This committee advises Congress on college aid issues. The gap between these students is widening at colleges and universities around the country, and college enrollment is suffering for academically prepared students of low-income families. After receiving their financial aid packages, students from low-income usually have an average of $3,800 in unmet need, said Charles Terrell, associate dean of student affairs at Boston University.
The report also found that Pell Grants have not increased with the rate of inflation and may only cover 39 percent of tuition costs. If students can receive Pell Grants that do not even equal the average cost of textbooks for a semester, how can they be expected to meet their financial obligations to their colleges or universities?
Talented students should have the opportunity to attend the school of their choice without worrying about where the money will come from. The federal government and the school should provide the means for these to receive the best education possible. Access to higher education depends too heavily on economic class, and it means that some students just cannot make it to their first-choice schools.
BU does an admirable job in providing educational awards to its students based on merit. In general, about two-thirds of BU students receive some form of financial aid. Those students usually graduate with an average debt of about $18,000. Without adequate aid from federal and private source, students from low-income families may accrue thousands of dollars of debt trying to meet their financial need not covered by their aid packages.
Congress should make financial aid funding a priority because the country will benefit from having more college graduates entering the workforce. With an estimated 1.6 million more students attending college over the next 15 years, more students will need financial aid to meet educational costs, and the federal government must be prepared to help meet that need.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
