Climbing the Hill toward greater higher-ed access

Crystal Gilliam from the Food Bank for New York City (L) and NCTC’s Rebecca Riha (R) meet with Hana Greenberg (center), legislative aide for Senator Chuck Schumer, during NCTC’s day of action.

Last week, NCTC organized a Day of Action so that some of our Financial Aid U (FAU) and College Assistance Program (CAP) members could meet with their elected officials in order to advocate for higher education and financial aid policies that increase postsecondary access and affordability. These two initiatives both entail assisting students and their families with filling-out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is the first step in accessing financial aid, without which the dream of attending college would be beyond the reach of too many families.

Welcome FAU Training Institute Class of 2012

NCTC is proud to announce and congratulate the inaugural class of the Financial Aid U Training Institute! Eight programs from across the country will be admitted to the next iteration of the Financial Aid U program.

Programs were chosen based on their commitment to adding or building their current asset building services to assist aspiring first-generation and low-income students in financing their college education.

The inaugural class includes:

Participate in FAFSA Research Study With NCTC

NCTC invites our members to join us in an effort to provide streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) preparation services to our clients. Concerns about the low visibility of financial aid programs and the complexity of the application process have spurred calls to simplify the FAFSA form and enhance the visibility of programs educating students about financial aid.

To address these obstacles, NCTC is participating in a research project with the Department of Education, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), CCH Small Firm Services and a team of university researchers.

Year after Year, Financial Aid U Helps Students Achieve College Success (Video)

Since 2008, FAU has served more than 8,000 students from coast to coast

This post is part of our week-long series on higher education affordability and accessibility. Check back each day for a new post!

A forthcoming research paper confirms what we’ve known anecdotally for a while: the FAFSA remains a huge barrier to college access for low-income students. With that knowledge, the Citi Foundation and Center for Economic Progress formed the Financial Aid U (FAU) project in 2008.

Initially in Chicago, and now nationwide, the Financial U program has helped more than 8,000 students fill out their FAFSA in the past four years. In 2012 alone, students had access to nearly $30 million in federal and state aid.

What’s the Congressional Briefing and Day of Action All About?

This post is part of our week-long series on higher education affordability and accessibility. Check back each day for a new post!

Unfortunately, not all of our members will be able to join us for our Congressional Briefing and Day of Action on Thursday. Earlier this week, NCTC Public Policy & Research Director Sean Noble took some time to explain what our Policy and Advocacy team will be doing this week by answering three simple questions:

1. What’s the Congressional Briefing and Day of Action all about?
2. What will advocates be doing on Capitol Hill?
3. Why is college access so important?

Take a few minutes to listen to Sean explain the importance of higher education access and our field’s advocacy work as a whole. And remember – you may not be in Washington, DC, but there are plenty of ways you can get involved from home!

By Dan Fair, Manager of Communications & Member Relations

Guest Post: A Better Way to Make College More Affordable

Rachel Black serves as Policy Analyst, Asset Building at the New America Foundation.

This guest post is part of our week-long series on higher education affordability and accessibility. Rachel will be speaking at our Congressional Briefing on Thursday, May 17 on Capitol Hill. 

The wrangling over the jump in student loan rates scheduled to take place on July 1^st has placed renewed focus on making college affordable. This is critical time to be having this conversation because the value of a college degree is only increasing in the post-recession economy, but, so is the cost of acquiring it.

In 2010, for example, 88 percent of recent college graduates with a college degree were employed and, on average, earning $581 a week compared to only 64 percent of their peers with just a high school diploma who were earning $305.