Mark Montgomery’s Post

Supporting students by providing basic needs funding in the form of grants can lead to a greater likelihood of those students staying enrolled as compared to peers who didn't receive that funding, especially as non-traditional students make up greater parts of student populations. #GreatCollegeAdvice #FinancialAid #CollegeEnrollment

Colleges and universities used HEERF funds to support new student support services. Without those funds, how do schools keep those services in place to drive #studentsuccess? Learn more about funding sources in our blog.

A Center for Higher Education Policy and Practice report revealed that basic needs funding at Southern New Hampshire University increased student persistence rates by up to 15.5 percent. Federal pandemic relief grants assisted students with daily necessities, correlating with higher enrollment rates compared to non-recipients. The report suggests these just-in-time grants offer flexible support, indicating a shift from traditional assumptions about college students' financial stability, prompting SNHU to pilot more basic needs funding initiatives. https://ow.ly/L9Ke50Qj1kQ

According to a recent Jobs for the Future (JFF) report, Black and Latine students were more likely to need food, housing, utility, and medical assistance, plus reported having more difficulty covering a $500 emergency compared to their white peers. That’s concerning in and of itself, but more so because financial insecurity is one of the primary reasons students unenroll from postsecondary education. In our research on the impact of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) on student outcomes, we found that unrestricted emergency aid can have measurable benefits in terms of students’ sense of belonging, financial burdens, and, possibly, graduation rates (https://lnkd.in/eETNr33d). Taken together, these findings suggest an urgent need for more basic needs assistance, wraparound support, and college affordability. Read more via Inside Higher Ed: https://lnkd.in/ggUQMRNE #financialaid #HEERF #collegeaffordability

Early planning crucial as education costs soar The financial difficulties that come with each step of the educational process are becoming more apparent as parents set out on the important path of leading their children through it. Parents today face growing costs and uncertainty from the early years of preschool to the top of post-secondary education. This fact emphasises how crucial early […]

Early planning crucial as education costs soar The financial difficulties that come with each step of the educational process are becoming more apparent as parents set out on the important path of leading their children through it. Parents today face growing costs and uncertainty from the early years of preschool to the top of post-secondary education. This fact emphasises how crucial early […]

Survey reveals strong support for #schoolchoice among Texas adults, even with concerns over public school funding. More details are in the article below. #txlege #ParentalChoice #educationreform #privateschools #education #educationmatters https://lnkd.in/gQgYK_f4

Districts are losing almost 10% of their budgets in just 7 months. There’s a fiscal cliff ahead as the Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) funds are set to expire. What's more is the growth rate of incoming revenue is slowing for schools who face chronic absenteeism issues. Rang is free to schools and proven to increase attendance (and revenue) to equip teachers with more resources, not less, to support our students. https://lnkd.in/gVZdA87i

In her chapter in my book, "Lifting the Veil on Enrollment Management," Beth Zasloff tells the story of a low-income student, Joanne, who experienced financial aid gapping firsthand when she was accepted into her first-choice school, Ithaca College. While Ithaca provides generous amounts of non-need-based "merit" aid to attract affluent students, it required Joanne's mother, a single mother who supported her family through a monthly disability check, to borrow a large Parent PLUS Loan to help pay for Joanne to attend. According to Zasloff, financial aid gapping is "merit aid's unfortunate corollary," leaving "fewer and worse options for low-income students, who often apply for aid with insufficient guidance and without parental support." In telling Joanne's story, Zasloff shows that selective colleges that leave low-income students with substantial funding gaps not only put these students' families in an extremely precarious financial situation but also send a message to these students that they are not wanted as much as their more-affluent counterparts. "The enrollment management strategies that Ithaca and so many other selective public and private colleges have embraced have created campus cultures that favor the rich and white," she writes. "Wealthy students get the message that they are valued, while low-income students like Joanne are made to feel like second-class citizens who have to scrape and claw and put everything on the line for the chance of success.

Welcome back AALA members as you continue to support schools and families. Remember to take care of YOU also. FAFSA delays will likely impact students The U.S. Department of Education has announced that its shorter, simplified Free Application for Federal Financial Aid, called the Better FAFSA, will be released by December 31 and be available through June 30. To help make the complex form easier for students and families to fill out, the FAFSA will be narrowed down to fewer than 20 questions instead of more than 100. Advocates have called for a simpler form for years, and the Education Department expects an increase in students qualifying for federal aid because more students are expected to fill it out. The delayed release means counselors have less time to work with more students. FAFSA completion correlates to whether students head to college, and Colorado has had one of the lowest FAFSA completion rates in the country. Last year, about 47% of high school seniors completed the form, compared to 58.9% nationally. https://lnkd.in/gf7hG5pk