Common App data through Feb. 15 showed applications up 11% overall from a year ago – yet down 1.6% among first-generation students and flat among low-income students. Overall FAFSA completion, a harbinger of college-going intent, was 9.2% behind the prior year on Feb. 19. In high schools serving lower-income students, it lagged 12.1%, and in schools with a high percentage of students of color, the decline was 14.6%.
The FAFSA drop represents “a gobsmacking number,” said Bill DeBaun, director of data and evaluation for the National College Attainment Network. It makes it less likely that low-income students will be able to attend, because many colleges and universities commit financial aid money to others ahead of those who apply later.
A gobsmacking number of students in need aren t applying to college Are we missing an entire generation ? msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham
The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Colleen McCaffrey, a senior at Northeast High in Philadelphia, spends much of her time trying to persuade her classmates to fill out federal college financial-aid forms.
It’s a tougher sell this year.
”The hardest thing is just getting to people,” said McCaffrey, who’s part of Peer Forward, a program that trains teenagers to help their peers prepare for college. “In the past, we had assemblies. We could go into homerooms and talk to people in person. You can’t do that this year.”
At Northeast, the city’s largest high school, about 46% of the 833 seniors have completed their Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms, known as FAFSA. That’s the highest rate of completion in the Philadelphia School District, said Venita DeLaRosa-Ortiz, a college and career coordinator at Northeast. But it’s also down from almost 60% this time last year.
Indiana News Connection
New data show a big drop of just over 9% in the number of Indiana students applying for federal student aid this year, and experts say that could mean a big red flag for college enrollment.
They found application rates are even worse for students of color or in lower-income families.
MorraLee Keller, director of technical assistance for the Network, said Indiana colleges could be looking at much smaller freshman classes. If the FAFSAs are already running just under 10% behind, and FAFSAs are a very strong indicator about the likelihood to enroll in college, we may be getting set up for another significant drop in college enrollment this fall, Keller projected.