High costs keep students at home
More students qualify for college, can’t afford tuition, panel says

By Greg Toppo
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — More low-income students are qualifying for college these days, but rising costs, inadequate grants and a shift from need-based financial aid programs are keeping them out, a congressional advisory panel said Wednesday.

The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which oversees financial aid programs, said increasing numbers of low-income students are graduating from high school academically prepared to enter college, but facing a system that is focused on middle-class students.

The system, the committee said in a report, could put college out of reach for many poor students.

“It is serious, given what we know about new economy jobs, and especially what we know about the demographic shift that’s about to occur,” said Juliet V. Garcia, president of the University of Texas at Brownsville and a member of the committee.

According to demographic researcher Tom Mortenson, who contributed to the report, many of the nation’s poorest students kept pace with their peers when it came to preparing academically for college. From 1987 to 1999, completion rates on college preparatory courses grew more than 20 percent for the poorest students, while middle-class students’ completion rates grew about 21 percent.

Given current demographic projections, by 2015 an ethnically and economically diverse group of students — 80 percent of whom will be nonwhite — will be applying for college. Among minority students, more than 45 percent will be from families that can contribute only a minimum amount and must rely on generous financial aid.

But since 1993, the report said, state funding for merit-based financial aid programs, which generally favor middle-class students, has increased 336 percent in real dollars. Meanwhile, funding for need-based financial aid programs, which favor poorer students, has risen only 88 percent.

The report said rising college costs are also hitting poor families harder, with more of their income eaten up by college expenses.

In 2000, the report said, the cost of college as a percentage of real family income was 62 percent for low-income families — a jump of 20 percent in the past 28 years. In the same period, college costs for middle- and upper-income families remained steady: For middle-class families, college costs have risen only marginally compared with income — from 12 percent in 1972 to about 16 percent last year. For the wealthiest families, college costs as a percentage of real family income stayed the same, about 7 percent.

Even after they get to college, the report said, low-income students end up footing a larger proportion of the bill than other students. After subtracting grants, loans and personal outlays, low-income students in a four-year public college typically face $3,200 in college-related bills. By contrast, middle-class students typically face $2,250 in unmet need, while upper-income students face only $400 in debt.

At the same time, the report said, the maximum federal Pell grant has failed to keep pace with college costs. In 1975, a student could cover 84 percent of costs at a public four-year college with such grants. By last year, he or she could only cover 39 percent. As a result, many low-income students are forced to work full- or part-time, cut back on coursework or simply drop out.

President Bush has said he will fully fund the Pell grant program, and has proposed increasing it. Education Secretary Rod Paige on Tuesday received a round of applause when he told the American Council on Education, a group of college administrators, that Bush wants to increase the maximum Pell grant 50 percent, to $5,100, for first-year students. Currently, the maximum is $3,300.

Garcia applauded the proposal, saying the committee wants to go further — she urged Bush to double the maximum Pell grant, to $6,600.

Paige on Tuesday also said the administration wants “enhanced Pell grants” for students who take college-level math and science courses in high school. Under the proposal, low-income recipients who pass advanced placement math and science exams would be eligible to receive an additional $1,000 for college tuition.

Paige said the program would particularly help minority students, but Garcia said many poor students don’t have access to AP courses in their schools.