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.

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.

MEDA Director Discusses Financial Aid Awareness Week on Univision

Dairo Romero talks about Financial Aid U on Univision

Dairo Romero, Director of Programs at the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in San Francisco was recently interviewed by Univsion 14 about MEDA’s involement in Financial Aid U and Financial Aid Awareness Week.