Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021 contains provisions that expand those provided by the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act), as well as important policy changes to higher education. One of the biggest results of the CAA includes changes to the
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is
completed by prospective and current college students each academic year to determine their financial aid eligibility. The new provisions will show up on the 2022 FAFSA and take effect for the 2023-2024 academic year, which gives the U.S. Department of Education time to implement the changes.
Below are a few highlights of the legislation and how they impact middle- and high-income families.
Fewer high school seniors and low-income students completing FAFSA
EDITOR S NOTE: A misspelled name has been corrected.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
According to the US Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid, when compared to the same time last year, there has been a 10% decline nationally in FAFSA submissions by high school seniors.
Missouri ranks just above the US national average at 10.4% of high school seniors who have yet to complete their form as of Friday, according to the Department of Education. Last year at this point we had 1.5 million applications nationwide from high school seniors and about 28,500 applications from Missouri students, said Ed Pacchetti, Director of Customer Analytics for the US Department of Education.
Temple University graduate Ewan Johnson s mother borrowed so he could go to college.
Growing up in a small town near Trenton, N.J., Ewan Johnson said there were birthdays when his mother couldn t afford to buy presents for him and his sister, but she did her best by baking cookies. There were times when she worked overtime in her job helping people with disabilities.
“I come from a low economic background. Going to college was literally my only way out,” Johnson says.
But like many students, Johnson said, the maximum in Pell Grants he received wasn t enough to pay for living expenses and tuition and fees at Temple University, where he earned a bachelor s in strategic communications and political science.
Commentary: Students need Pell Grants to double
Special to CalMatters
Our nation faces an unprecedented time for college affordability. Students all across this country are taking on too much debt and forgoing early financial stability.
While there are multiple solutions to this problem, increasing the maximum dollar amount of Pell Grants can prove to be an effective solution for students today.
I am in my third year at UC Berkeley, studying business and public policy. As a low-income student, I wanted nothing more than to go to college at little to no cost to me and my family. Therefore, I sunk a lot of time into scholarship applications because I knew that federal grants would not be able to pay for even half the cost. I thought I would be able to receive enough scholarships to cover my college expenses. However, after living on campus for my first year, I realized that I still did not have enough money to pay for my entire college experience.
Mogue Wisniewski
History will recall President Biden at his inauguration urging unity in a deeply divided nation confronting a raging pandemic, growing inequity, systemic racism and a climate crisis.
But sitting at a kitchen table in Philadelphia, a 13-year-old boy named Mogue Wisniewski, wasn’t watching the ceremony in Washington. In a sign of the times, the seventh grader at the Philadelphia Academy Charter School was looking at his laptop, remotely attending math class.
“I’m not that interested in politics,” he said earlier this week when asked about Biden.
But years from now, perhaps when he is a student in college, he may recall this cold January day that transformed his life when a new president, who has vowed to make tuition free at public colleges for families like Wisniewski s, was sworn in.