Cal Grants: Spared From Termination?

The San Francisco Chronicle reports ("Cal Grants may be spared from budget cuts") that a key legislative committee in California has rejected the Terminator's budget proposal to eliminate Cal Grants.

The Conference Committee on the Budget, which has been wading through Schwarzenegger's budget plan that makes drastic spending cuts across the board, voted to reject his Cal Grants proposal in a 6-4 party-line vote with Democrats in the majority.

Cal Grants are state-funded monetary grants that help eligible students pay for college expenses, up to $9,700 per year.

BACKGROUND: Cal Grant on the Chopping Block

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Cal Grant on the Chopping Block

I thought we'd seen the worst of it when yesterday the California Community College system began discussing enrollment reductions of 250,000 students. Now California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed to eliminate the Cal Grant--the state's Pell--affecting 100,000 low-income students each year.

I'm not sure where my nausea stems from at this very moment-- my pregnancy, or this insane bit of short-sighted policy-making. Forgive the Terminator, for he knows not what he does....

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How Much Can Hiking the Sticker Price Hurt Poor Kids?

They just give up. Period.

My husband drew my attention to a new study published in the April issue of Psychological Science in which researchers provided low-income Chicago 7th-graders in two randomly selected classrooms with one of two kinds of information: Classroom A received information about need-based financial aid opportunities, indicating that college was a possibility for them while Classroom B was provided information about the enormous costs associated with a college education, indicating that college was not a viable option (specifically they were told that the average college tuition costs $31,160 to $126,792).

The researchers then assessed students' motivation levels and mentality towards school using questionnaires about goals, grades, and time usage.

The students in Classroom A expected to do better in school and planned to put more effort into studying and homework, compared to the students in Classroom B, who did not view college as a realistic possibility.

In a sensitivity analysis the researchers repeated the study with Detroit classrooms, and changed the second condition from info about college costs to no info at all. Results again indicated that students provided financial aid information had a more open mindset toward their future.

The authors conclude "part of the reason children begin to fall behind is that effort in school is understood to have meaning only when it leads to a path to the future. When the path to college feels closed because of a lack of financial assets, school-focused aspirations and planned effort suffer."

For more, see the work of Daphna Oyserman, University of Michigan.

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Bigotry Rears Its Ugly Head

Proposed laws to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition rates have generated such controversy in recent years that it's downright embarrassing. Legislation like the DREAM Act is intended to make the American Dream possible. Work hard, go to school, and college-- along with a ticket to middle-class society-- will be in your reach. That's what we tell our kids, that's what the president tells the nation, and it's on every billboard and magazine everywhere you look.

Face it: we live in a college-for-all society. Everyone believes it should be easier to get into the college of their choice, and easier to afford it. EXCEPT when it comes to the poorest of our citizens. To them we say: No college for you! (Read it as if the Soup Nazi is speaking).

The 1996 PRWORA welfare reform did this, making it near impossible for moms of young children who need financial assistance to participate in higher education. Now we witness these 'dream' statutes in states like California and Oklahoma, among others. Despite solid evidence that we can increase the college-going rates of Latinos in this country simply by allowing the undocumented among them to enroll in college at in-state rates, too many of our fellow citizens are up in arms about the very idea.

These "college is for SOME, not for all" people are missing a key cause of this recession. Income inequality is not good for the country. It doesn't make you safer, or help you sleep better. Keeping people out of college helps ensure they'll make the lowest of wages, depend on the government for benefits, and have more trouble raising healthier, happier kids. Our goal should be to find cost-effective ways of moving more residents out of poverty-- and giving them a small price break on tuition seems a good way to do that.

Let's be clear--undocumented immigrants aren't going to leave America just because they can't get in-state rates at local colleges. Because of jobs and family ties, they'll continue to live here. But the odds are good that they will never be college graduates. As a result, they'll contribute far less to our economy, and drain government resources more.

But they will STILL BE HERE. Think about it....

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UPDATE: Higher Ed Cop Out #1

It's a trend! According to the New York Times: "Facing fallen endowments and needier students, many colleges are looking more favorably on wealthier applicants as they make their admissions decisions this year."

Says Morty Shapiro, "There's going to be a cascading of talented lower-income kids down the social hierarchy of American higher education, and some cascading up of affluent kids."

Darn straight-- remember cop out #1? Need-Sensitive Admissions. Lovely.

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UPDATE: Madison Initiative

UW-Madison's chancellor is in the midst of spreading the good word about her Initiative for Undergraduates. On the surface, much of the campus seems supportive.

In private, it's a different story. I received nearly 30 unsolicited emails from students today. Here, is an excerpt from one:

"I went to the Madison Initiative Forum tonight...[The Chancellor] said early in the forum that students should claim independence from their parents (to get financial aid)-- not even considering the tax implications for the parents. One of the administrators walking around during the small groups part heard my group talking about that and got her to correct her statement....There weren't many students present and most of them seemed opposed to the plan. Engineering students were especially vocal on account of their already having to pay differential tuition and all of the faculty benefits going to Letters & Sciences. A lot of people were also skeptical that their additional funds would go to hiring new faculty that would actually interact with undergrads. I came away from the Forum less impressed with the proposal..."


I think the voices of students are quite important in this discussion, and I urge those for the program and those against to make their opinions heard. This is, after all, one of the last remaining universities of the people.

Keeping you posted....

BACKGROUND: "Sifting and Winnowing"

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Sifting and Winnowing

UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn "Biddy" Martin’s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, pitched as a way to improve both the quality and affordability of undergraduate education, is a deceptively appealing policy. On its face, it appears to be an efficient way to increase UW’s resources while decreasing inequities in access. It does this by taking a substantial step towards a “high-tuition/high aid” model that asks middle and upper-income students and families to pay more of the University’s costs.


In practice, this policy sacrifices equity for excellence, and puts one of the nation’s premier public flagship campuses in jeopardy. Make no mistake: it passes the burden of funding public higher education onto the shoulders of working families and students—in the midst of a financial crisis. While purporting to “hold harmless” lower-income students with increases in financial aid, it employs a poorly justified income cutoff that will make successful implementation near impossible. By raising the sticker price in the midst of a recession it is likely to have trickle down effects that effectively steer the low-income students elsewhere, while increasing the resource disparities between Madison and other System campuses. In effect, this initiative will make UW-Madison both more desirable and less accessible.


To demonstrate her sincere commitment to UW’s undergraduates, Chancellor Martin should move quickly to ensure that all consequences of her proposal—intended and unintended—will be carefully measured and considered. Under President Obama’s leadership the nation has moved toward an era of greater transparency, accountability, and data-driven decision-making. Part of Martin’s commitment to undergraduates should be to do the same.

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Obama Gets It Right

God, I love having smart people in the administration!

This morning I listened as Bob Shireman and Ceci Rouse unveiled an ambitious, thoughtful plan to increase college completion rates among low-income students. DOE is on the right track-- the story is completion, rather than access, and to make advances requires some serious restructuring of incentives.

The part of the plan to Restore America's Leadership in Higher Education that I'm most excited about is the creation of reliable Pell Grant -- making its funding mandatory rather than discretionary, and indexing the maximum grant to grow at CPI + 1%.

What's more, they're proposing a five-year $2.5 bil incentive fund to stimulate state-federal partnerships to increase degree completion. The best part? These folks actually get that we DO NOT KNOW what will work, and therefore whatever states try out needs to be rigorously evaluated. Build the knowledge base and we'll improve policy and practice. Exactly the shot in the arm higher ed needs, if only they hold true to a good definition of rigor and require states to contract out those evaluations. I'd also suggest that evals of ongoing, rather than simply new, programs be allowed -- why waste time when we can start learning now?

Lastly: one thing I didn't hear that I'd like to -- let the financial aid experiments continue. The last administration called a halt to institutional efforts to try out innovations, and this was a mistake. We need to know more about how aid can better be distributed, not less. Let 'em go on.

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Need-Sensitive Admissions: A Follow-up

Yesterday's New York Times has a "data" piece in the Education Life section titled "How Sensitive Are They?" It lists private schools with need-blind and need-sensitive policies, and statistics on the % of incoming freshmen who have their need fully met by an aid package, and the average % of need met (across all incoming freshmen with any need as determined by the college). In most cases, it looks like need-sensitive schools meet close to 100% of the need of incoming freshmen, and in turn most of their students have their need fully met. In contrast, schools that are need-blind meet a smaller % of demonstrated need and have lower proportions of their freshmen with need fully met.

Ok... again, duh: With fewer low-income kids to serve, you can meet more of their need. Why, oh why, didn't the Times include a column indicating the % of incoming freshmen receiving Pell grants, and the graduation rates of their minority (proxy for Pell in absence of another) students??? Talk about taking a one-sided approach to the story...

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College Support Programs in Beantown

Today's Boston Globe ran a terrific story ('College Counselors Fill Role Of Parent') by James Vaznis about Boston-based nonprofits that support area students in applying to, enrolling in, and graduating from college. Most of these students are low-income and first-generation college go-ers, a population much less likely to attend and achieve a degree. One of these nonprofits is the 11-year-old Bottom Line, located in Jamacia Plain ("JP").

As part of a bold effort to boost dismal college graduation rates for Boston public school alumni, city leaders and philanthropists are banking on a heavy expansion of Bottom Line and other nonprofits to get more college degrees into the hands of city residents.

Many of the nonprofits cater to low-income students who often are the first members of their family to attend college. While a few programs are devoted to the city's elite college preparatory exam schools, Bottom Line and others also serve a large number of students from the city's less prestigious high schools, where many graduates enter college ill-prepared.

In a way, the counselors in these groups equip Boston students with a powerful force taken for granted by many of their affluent peers: They fill the role of parents who closely monitor their children's progress in college and have the knowhow or the connections to cut through bureaucratic red tape when problems arise.

Here's a shout-out to my pal Elizabeth Pauley (quoted in the Globe story) at the Boston Foundation, one of the groups funding this and related work to boost the city's high school graduation rates. Nice work. Go Celtics!

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Who Says This Election Shouldn't Be About Education?

The staggering economy is clearly hitting working families, investors ... and college students with financial need. The New York Times reports that the Federal Pell Grant Program faces a $6 billion shortfall.

Battered by a worsening economy, college students are seeking federal financial aid in record numbers this year, leading Bush administration officials to warn Congress that the most important federal aid program, Pell Grants, may need up to $6 billion in additional taxpayer funds next year.

Driving the increased applications for federal aid, in part, have been nontraditional students returning to school to improve their job skills during the economic downturn, said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities.

Estimates by the Department of Education suggest that the new president will face an unusually burdensome financing shortfall or the fallout that would accompany trimming the nation’s leading college aid program.

“There are a lot of things going on — more people are applying for student aid, more people are going to college, more people who qualify for the aid are showing up at school,” said Thomas P. Skelly, the Department of Education’s director of budget service, who wrote a memorandum detailing the problem to Congress.

As of July 31, 800,000 more students had applied for grants than on that date last year, according to the memorandum, which called the increase one of the largest ever year to year.

This year, more than six million low-income college students will receive Pell Grants ranging from $431 to $4,731, federal officials said.

Congress appropriated $14 billion for the grants for the current fiscal year, but because of the increase and because of accumulated shortfalls from previous years, lawmakers will need to add $6 billion in new funds next year or cut the size of the grants, Department of Education officials said.

Perhaps the Iraqi government with its oil-driven $79 billion surplus can bail the Bush Administration out of this mess it has created.

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U. of California Proposes Sweeping Admissions Changes

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the University of California System is considering changes to its admissions policies that would "de-emphasize test scores and give the system's nine undergraduate campuses greater flexibility in choosing their freshman classes." The plan was proposed by faculty leaders concerned that an over-emphasis on student test scores disqualifies capable and deserving low-income and minority students from being admitted to UC campuses.

Since the 1960s, California's premier public-university system has promised admission to at least one of its campuses to the top 12.5 percent of the state's high-school graduates, as determined primarily by grades and test scores. Under the faculty plan, the proportion of students who are guaranteed a spot would be reduced to about the top 10 percent. The remaining spots would go to students chosen by individual campuses, which would more closely consider applicants' personal backgrounds.

The changes may not impact top UC campuses -- such as Berkeley and UCLA -- because those schools already employ a comprehensive review of each student's application and they are highly selective institutions.

Mark Yudof, the new president of the UC System, recently arrived from Texas, says that he is "sympathetic on the merits" of the proposal but wants to see more details.

Read more:
Chronicle story
LA Times story
SF Chronicle story

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College Holds Greatest Benefits for Those Least Likely To Go

A terrific new paper , presented today at the annual meetings of the Population Association of America, provides evidence of what some of us have long suspected: the kids who are least likely to attend college are the most likely to benefit from a college degree. Jennie Brand and Yu Xie contradict the Nobel prize winning economist James Heckman, among others, with their rigorous look at the usual contention that people who get the largest returns to a degree are most likely to go to college (because people are such rational actors, you know...). Instead, their complex yet easy-to-follow analysis finds 1) heterogeneity rather than homogeneity in economic returns to a four-year degree and 2) "negative selection"-- meaning that returns decline as the probability of earning a degree increases. Their data comes from three sources (NLSY79, NLS-72, and WLS) and they employ many tests for robustness. While the paper is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, I'm sure it will be soon. This paper has spectacular implications for public policy. Most importantly (as Mike Hout pointed out in today's discussion) it contradicts the common assumption that an expansion of degree-holders will result in declines in the average returns to a BA. Instead, Brand & Xie's evidence indicates that expansion would result in an increase in the average returns, since expansion would primarily involving moving the least-likely to attend into college.

This is social science at its best: thought-provoking and informative. Keep up the good work!

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