But the report—put out by the Urban Institute and titled “Delivering Early Information about College Financial Aid Exploring the Options for Middle School Students”—does not argue for providing that information in a school setting.
Rather, the report calls for taking a look at the pros and cons associated with delivering financial aid information to low-income families with middle schoolers when or shortly after their parents file their taxes or apply for social support benefits—namely, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Medicaid.
SNAP, Medicaid, and the federal income tax filing process all emerge as “the most promising routes for communicating with the parents of middle school children because of the large populations they serve, the characteristics of their participants, and their administrative structures,” the report states.
If doing financial aid advising—even a little bit—during times of financial trouble or tax time sounds problematic, that’s because it is, the authors of the study concede.
However, those times could also be ideal opportunities to make sure the information reaches the families who could benefit from financial aid the most and informs children who are “unlikely to understand that going to college will be within their financial reach,” they say.
The report was authored by Sandy Baum, senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute and a research professor at George Washington University, along with Sarah Minton and Lorraine Blatt, a research associate and research assistant, respectively, in the Income and Benefits Policy Center.
