With just a couple of weeks to go before the state filing deadline, far fewer California high school students have completed college financial aid applications than is typical.
Applications from students age 18 and under are down from previous years. As of Feb 15, only 314,855 students under age 18 completed an application. That’s 27,522 fewer than last year and 22,313 fewer than 2019.
Overall financial aid applications submitted by California’s college and high school students are up compared to previous years. As of Feb. 15, 1,122,548 students had completed an application, that’s 58,953 more than last year, according to data from the California Student Aid Commission, or CSAC. But that increase is driven by current college and graduate students.
Sedona Red Rock News
By: John Hecht and Alexandra Wittenberg
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended education in Sedona and the Verde Valley, with some school districts having shifted between remote and in-person learning multiple times in the first half of the 2020-21 school year alone.
The disruption goes beyond the decisions of individual school boards on how to instruct students, as all area districts have reported declines in enrollment for this school year. Though many families have left on their own accord this year to try out homeschooling options or move to a district where the in-person regulations were preferred, other students were forced to be dropped due to inactivity.
The Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board, administrators, community members and Yavapai County Health Services Director Leslie Horton, on screen, came together at the SPAC on Dec. 7 to discuss possibly returning to virtual-only schooling. Alexandra Wittenberg/Larson Newspapers
In a three-hour meeting on Monday, Dec. 7, the Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board voted unanimously to keep Sedona Red Rock High School and West Sedona School open for in-person learning during the nine remaining school days before winter break starts Saturday, Dec. 19.
But when school reconvenes on Monday, Jan. 4, classes will be virtual-only and stay that way for a few days after.