Despite dramatic tuition increases over the past 30 years, federal data reveals that more low-income students are enrolling in post-secondary education. While advocates say much work remains to be done on access and affordability, they note one reason for the enrollment increase has been the steady availability of federal financial aid.
“We’ve seen the evolution of the Pell Grant create opportunity for low-income students,” says Michelle Asha Cooper, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C.
Though federal aid has provided much needed support to the economically disadvantaged, Pell and other programs have become hard-pressed to keep up with tuition increases and make up for declines in state aid. “The minus is that these programs are still underfunded,” notes Cooper.
Such are the successes and continuing challenges in federal policy with regards to access to higher education during the past three decades, and, now, a time in which more young adults are seeking a post-secondary education but are concerned about its affordability.
Back in 1984, about one-third of low-income students who completed high school enrolled in college. By 2011, that rate rose to more than half of low-income graduates every year, according to “The Condition of Education,” the U.S. Department of Education’s annual compilation of education data. However, low-income high school graduates are enrolling in college at rates substantially below the enrollment rate for high-income students, of whom more than four of every five enrolled in college immediately after high school in 2011.
In response to these trends, policymakers in Congress and the White House have attempted with varied success to promote initiatives to increase access and affordability for all youth, including students of color. Here is a look at the state of some of the key issues that lawmakers on Capitol Hill have grappled with in the past 30 years:
Pell Grants
