Beyond Percentage Plans: The Challenge of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education

(Staff Report)

Chapter 5

Facilitating Academic and Financial Access to Higher Education

Access to higher education is not only dependent on a fair and flexible admissions process, as has been the focus of this paper thus far, but can also be limited by inadequate academic preparation and financial constraints. Only when all three components are present—admissions, academic, and financial support—can affirmative access to higher education truly be achieved. Academic support and financial aid are vital measures to level the opportunities for higher education, and the federal government’s role is therefore critical.

Because race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are so clearly linked in the United States, with people of color more often making up the ranks of the poor, these are the students most likely to require academic and financial supports. With recent attention drawn to America’s “failing schools,” perhaps more than ever, federal intervention in the form of outreach, counseling, and supplemental academic instruction is paramount. Further, research has shown that increases in tuition rates and relative decreases in financial aid have had a significant effect on college enrollments for minority and lower-income students, limiting the opportunities for those who cannot afford the high costs of college.[1] Financial access not only has implications for the choices in institutions students have, but also their ability to complete a course of study, both of which have long-term socioeconomic consequences. 

Over the last 40 years, many federal and state programs have been implemented to meet the needs of low-income students. These include the federal TRIO programs to assist disadvantaged and low-income students in preparing for higher education and financial aid to assist lower- and middle-income students with college tuition and expenses. Following is a detailed assessment of how these federal initiatives, when used in conjunction with proactive recruitment and admissions efforts, can contribute to the goal of increasing diversity on college campuses across the country.

THE TRIO PROGRAMS

TRIO refers to a set of federal programs designed to assist and encourage economically disadvantaged students to pursue and complete postsecondary education.[2] Congress initially established the first three programs in the 1960s: Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services. By the 1980s, TRIO expanded to include three additional programs: the Educational Opportunity Centers, the Training Program for TRIO staff,[3] and the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. In 1990, the Department of Education created the Upward Bound Math/Science Program, and in 1998, the TRIO Dissemination Partnership Program began.[4]

TRIO designates money to help students overcome class, social, academic, and cultural barriers to higher education. TRIO funds are provided by the Department of Education and are distributed to institutions of higher education, businesses, private organizations, and individuals through competitive grants. More than 1,200 colleges, universities, community colleges, and agencies sponsor TRIO programs.

TRIO—How It Works

The mission of the TRIO programs is to “maximize educational opportunities for low-income and potential first-generation college students through direct services that provide access to education and encourage retention through the education pipeline.” The goal is “to help students succeed in attaining postsecondary education and graduating from degree programs.”[5] TRIO programs are designed to identify promising students for college (Talent Search), prepare them to do college-level work (Upward Bound), provide tutoring and support services to ensure college retention and graduation (Student Support Services), and encourage low-income and minority undergraduates to consider doctoral studies (Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program). By offering such services as tutoring, academic instruction, and projects to improve students’ study skills, the grantees strive to meet TRIO’s mission and goals. It is the responsibility of the grantees to find and place eligible students in the programs and provide the resources necessary to carry out the services offered. To help identify and recruit eligible elementary, middle, and high school students, many of the TRIO grantees establish long-term relationships with schools in nearby communities. They usually network with the schools’ guidance counselors to help find students for the programs.[6] The in-college programs are advertised on campuses and eligible students may apply directly if they meet the requirements.

For a grantee to receive TRIO funds, two-thirds of the participating students must come from a low-income family in which neither parent graduated from college.[7] Income eligibility is based on the size of the family unit and the family’s income level, as determined by the Department of Education.[8] For example, in 2002, a student is eligible to participate in TRIO if the family’s income is less than $27,150 for a family of four.[9]

Currently, 1,750 TRIO programs serve nearly 700,000 low-income Americans. Forty-two percent of TRIO students are white; 35 percent are African American; 15 percent are Hispanic; 4 percent are Asian Pacific American; and 16,000 are disabled.[10]  

Talent Search (TS) is a pre-college program that identifies and assists economically disadvantaged youth in elementary, middle, and senior high schools who have the potential to succeed in higher education. The program provides academic, career, and financial aid counseling, tutoring, exposure to college campuses, and assistance in preparing for college entrance examinations and in completing college admission applications.[11] The goal of the program is to increase the number of economically disadvantaged youth who graduate from high school and continue on to a postsecondary institution of their choice. In 1999, Talent Search served 323,541 students, the majority of whom were in middle school; 74 percent were low-income and first-generation college students, and 68 percent of the participants were minorities.[12]

The goal of Upward Bound (UB) is to increase the rates of economically disadvantaged middle and high school students and adults completing secondary education and enrolling in higher education institutions. Most of the students—about 90 percent—enter UB in the ninth or 10th grade, and about 35 percent remain with the program through high school graduation.[13] In 1999, UB served 52,960 students, the majority of whom were African American. The program provides grants to institutions for fundamental support in participants’ preparation for college through participation in pre-college academic programs. Participants receive instruction in literature, foreign languages, and other subjects they will likely encounter on college campuses.[14]

The Upward Bound Math and Science (UBMS) program offers grants to institutions to strengthen the math and science skills of participating low-income, first-generation college students. The goal of the math and science component of UB is to help high school students recognize and develop their potential to excel in math and science and to encourage them to pursue postsecondary degrees in those fields.[15] In 1999, 6,200 participated in the UBMS program.

The Student Support Services (SSS) program focuses on improving college retention and graduation rates of disadvantaged college students. The in-college program provides participants with academic and nonacademic supplemental services that include tutoring, career and personal counseling, remedial assistance, and cultural enrichment activities. Seven hundred SSS projects currently serve 165,000 college students. The program is targeted to serve students from low-income families, students with disabilities, or those for whom neither parent has graduated from college. SSS students are more likely to be economically disadvantaged and minority, and have poor academic preparation for college.[16]

The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement (McNair) Program[17] prepares low-income, first-generation college students and individuals who are underrepresented in graduate education (African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, and Native Americans) for doctoral studies. The McNair program awards grants to institutions of higher education for projects designed to prepare participants for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. The program offers the following services: mentoring, summer internships, tutoring, seminars, and counseling. The goal is to increase graduate degree attainment of eligible students.[18] In 1999, 3,641 undergraduates participated in the McNair program. Seventy-two percent were classified as low-income and first-generation students, and 75 percent were classified as members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.[19] In fiscal year 2001, $35.8 million was awarded in 156 grants to higher education institutions to serve an estimated 3,774 students.[20] The program offers participants the following services: mentoring, summer internships, tutoring, academic counseling, seminars and other scholarly activities, assistance in securing admission and financial aid for enrollment in graduate programs, and research opportunities for participants who have completed their sophomore year of college.[21]

Federal Appropriations for TRIO

Over the years, there has been strong congressional support for the TRIO program. Appropriations for TRIO were $600 million for fiscal year 1999,[22] and nearly $700 million in fiscal year 2001.[23] In its fiscal year 2003 budget request, the Bush administration recommended $800 million for the TRIO program.[24] Table 5.1 shows the TRIO funding for 1967 through 1999. Overall, TRIO finding reflects a generally upward trend with occasional decreases, which have applied to TS, UB, and SSS.

One educational organization, the Council for Opportunity in Education, reports that nearly 9.6 million low-income students from middle school to college are currently eligible to participate in the TRIO programs. Although TRIO has received increases in appropriations through the years, current funding allows less than 7 percent of the eligible population to be served. To expand the services, the Council for Opportunity in Education recommends a $200 million increase (over the proposed $800 million in 2002) for the program in 2003, for a total funding of $1 billion.[25]

Minority Participation in TRIO

Table 5.2 shows TRIO funding, number of grants awarded, number served, average grant award and average number served, and the number and percentage of minorities served in 1999 in each program. Approximately 54 percent of the TRIO participants are minorities.

Table 5.3 shows the participation of whites and minorities in TRIO. Minorities are well represented in the TRIO programs, particularly in the UB and McNair programs, 80 and 76 percent, respectively. Relative to the other programs, minority participation is lowest in the SSS program, just 52 percent.

Students who are eligible to participate in TRIO are not being served because TRIO programs are concentrated in limited areas. According to the TRIO team leader at the Department of Education, many of the TRIO grantees are “repeaters” (participating in the programs for multiple years), and have networked with the same communities and schools, and in communities that are in close proximity of the funding institution, to recruit eligible students.[26] The department does not require that certain school districts or schools be served, but only that the students meet the eligibility requirements stated in the law.[27]

In 1998, the College Board, in association with the Education Resources Institute and the National TRIO Clearinghouse, conducted a national survey of college and pre-college outreach programs, including TS and UB. The survey reported that about one-half of the outreach programs were limited to a particular school or school district, and one-fourth of the servers targeted a particular community.[28] The survey data also showed that of the 12 groups of student populations targeted for the outreach programs, the three most targeted student populations included low-income, minority, and first-generation students (first-time college student in the household). Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) ranked last among the targeted groups.[29] The targeting of the same schools, communities, and school districts, as well as the low ranking of ESL students as a target group may lead to the underservicing of eligible students. For example, Latinos, who make up the largest immigrant population in the United States, are widely dispersed, with more than half living in areas that are not served by TRIO programs.[30]

The TRIO team leader at the Department of Education said that the agency is aware of new groups who may be eligible for the programs and that grantees now get “extra points” in their grant applications for identifying new target areas with higher needs for the TRIO programs. In the future, she said, the department will take note if more applicants are broadening their target areas.[31] However, she stressed that targeting new geographic areas for students is not required, and if it is done grantees will still identify students based on their economic status and not the race or ethnicity of the student population in the area. Expanding target areas may not necessarily guarantee a significant increase in the participation of minorities in the programs.[32]

TRIO—Is It Working?

There is strong support for the TRIO programs from lawmakers, educators, grantees, and educational institutions and organizations. In many ways, the TRIO programs meet their objectives and mission. For example, the National Council of Educational Opportunity Associations reports that:

• Students in the UB program are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in TRIO.

• Students in TRIO’s SSS program are twice as likely to remain in college than those from similar backgrounds who did not participate in the program.

• TRIO high school participants predominantly attend four-year colleges and are less likely to attend proprietary or two-year schools.[33]

As part of its effort to assess the effectiveness of TRIO, the Department of Education requires annual performance reports prepared by the grantees on their initiatives, recipients, and services.[34] The latest published evaluations of TS and McNair cover 1998–1999. UB and SS were evaluated in longitudinal studies funded by the department. The department’s TRIO performance reports focus on the number of participants served by each program, the services provided, and how well they performed in the program. The department does not require or analyze racial/ethnic data on TRIO participants’ college admissions, enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. For example, the department does not aggregate the data on the race or ethnicity of the participants who complete UB and continue to college, or the percentage of minorities who complete SSS and continue to graduate school.[35] The department collects and reports information on the McNair participants by race/ethnicity, but not data on how many complete doctoral programs. The TRIO team leader and a program analyst at the department said that much of the data are not available because it is difficult to track students throughout the programs since they do not participate in all TRIO programs, or may not complete a program or enroll in the college or university where the program was conducted, or that the information, particularly the racial/ethnic information, is not required by law or the department.[36]

The 1998–99 evaluation of TS reported that of the 307,451 students participating, 98 percent of the middle school participants and 96 percent of the high school participants remained in school. Seventy-one percent of “college ready” participants were admitted to, or enrolled in, a program of postsecondary education.[37] A 1997 evaluation of the UB program reported that 45,000 students across the United States participated. The evaluation concluded that UB offers benefits to students by exposing them to academically challenging courses and college experience.[38] The study also found that Hispanic students, as a group, have benefited from the program.[39]

he 1997 evaluation of SSS showed a “small but positive and statistically significant” impact of the program on student outcomes. The longer a student stayed in SSS, the more significant the impact and effectiveness. Among its findings, those students who participated in SSS for three years had increased grade point averages (GPAs) and earned more semester credits, and tended to have higher retention rates at the same institution than those with similar backgrounds who did not participate in the program.[40] To illustrate, for SSS participants, retention at the same institution to the second year increased by 7 percent, and to the third year, by 9 percent. In the third year after participants were freshmen, 58 percent who began at a two-year institution were still there or at some other college; 78 percent of those who began at a four-year institution and 83 percent of those who began a doctoral program were enrolled at the same institution.[41]

McNair project staff may track student participants from their enrollment in the program through their completion of a doctoral degree or withdrawal from the program. However, tracking the students throughout their college career may be difficult to do. To explain, depending on the undergraduate year in which a student enters the McNair program, the student may take from six to 10 years to complete his or her doctorate. Thus, institutions tend to report more “intermediate” outcomes to assess the success of the McNair program, such as the number and percentage of the McNair students enrolled in an undergraduate program, or those participants enrolled in a graduate degree program, or those who graduated from either a graduate or undergraduate degree program, or those who were dismissed or withdrew from either a graduate degree or undergraduate degree program. Although the 1998–99 report covers three years of data, it acknowledges that the data are not consistent and there are different variables for analysis. The most consistent data that could be aggregated showed that of the 9,090 McNair students who graduated from an undergraduate program, an estimated 47 percent were attending a graduate program in 1998–99.[42]

Conclusion

In summary, the TRIO programs have received funding support from Congress and presidential administrations, and are viewed by educators and educational organizations as effective in affording educational opportunity beyond high school for many youth who would not have the opportunity to participate in higher education. However, there is a paucity of aggregated data to assess the extent of TRIO’s influence on college enrollment and graduation of its participants, particularly minorities.

In addition, while many of the grantees advertise the programs on their Web site, they tend to network with the same communities and schools to recruit students. Thus, new communities where large immigrant populations reside may not be serviced by the TRIO programs. Moreover, it is probable that many of the economically disadvantaged children lack computers to access the Internet. Further, ESL students are not a high priority for outreach that minimizes their participation in the programs.

The importance of TRIO programs is unquestionable. Budget constraints at most college and universities have eliminated or minimized most of their transition and outreach programs that serve economically disadvantaged students. Without these programs, many of these students would not have the opportunity to attend college. It is the responsibility of the federal government to provide such programs at a time when the federal focus is on education and on strategies to promote education and include all children in the secondary and postsecondary educational system.

FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID

Since 1965, the United States has invested in student aid to give students who could not afford to attend college the financial resources to enroll and pursue degrees. Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, established federal financial aid programs for students attending postsecondary institutions.[43] The majority of the federal financial assistance programs fall into three categories: grants, loans, and tax incentives. This section describes types of federal financial aid and assesses whether such programs are meeting the needs of the students they were developed to assist. Financial student aid is an approximated $12 billion investment that assists more than 8 million students (see table 5.4).[44]

Funding for financial aid has increased at the rate of inflation but has not been increasing at the rate of tuition, thus the purchasing power of financial assistance programs has been reduced dramatically. Proposed budget funding for fiscal year 2003 for Pell grants is only $133 million more than fiscal year 2000 appropriations. Funding for some of the programs has not been increased in more than two years. Programs that show slight budget increases are growing only at the rate of inflation, not necessarily tuition costs (see table 5.4). Tuition at many institutions has risen at double the rate of inflation, and greatly increased the need for financial assistance at universities. The lack of funding for financial assistance affects a large percentage of minority and low-income students whose families earn less than $25,000 per year (see table 5.5). Institutions are increasingly unable to support the unmet needs of minority and low-income students resulting from the lack of funding in financial aid programs.[45]

Any student can apply for financial aid by completing the standard federal application for financial aid, “Free Application for Federal Student Aid” (FAFSA). After submitting the FAFSA form, applicants receive a Student Aid report that contains the expected family contribution toward college cost. The schools that accept the student create the financial aid award package, which states the amount of grants, scholarships, or loans available to the student.[46]

Criteria for Receiving Federal Financial Aid

• Students who receive federal financial aid must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Demonstrated financial need for the majority of the academic programs offered.

• High school diploma or General Education Development certificate.

• Enrollment or acceptance as a regular student working toward a degree or certificate in an eligible program.

• U.S. citizenship or noncitizen eligibility.

• Valid social security number.

• Demonstrated academic progress.

Students demonstrate a need for federal financial aid based on family income. According to the 2000 Census, a higher proportion of black families, 84.4 percent, and Hispanic families, 87.1 percent, are in the low- and middle-income bracket compared with white families, 70.8 percent, and Asian Pacific American families, 62.8 percent. The middle-income bracket shows moderate differences between racial and ethnic groups, while the low-income bracket shows more pronounced differences (see table 5.5). Financial aid programs geared toward low- and middle-income families allow students to attend institutions participating in Title IV programs and thus the funding of such programs have a major financial impact on disadvantaged minority students.

Approximately 14.9 million students in 1998 were enrolled at institutions that participate in Title IV financial aid programs. Of those students, an estimated 98.3 percent attended degree-granting institutions. About 70.2 percent of the students were white, 10.9 percent black, 8.7 percent Hispanic, 6.2 percent Asian Pacific Islander, 1 percent American Indian, and 3.1 percent nonresident alien (see table 5.6).

Types of Federal Financial Aid

Federal financial aid is distributed in a number of ways, through loans, grants, scholarships, and institution-sponsored funding or campus-based programs (see table 5.7). Many types of financial aid are awarded based solely on students’ financial need, while others may be based on other criteria such as academic merit. Scholarships are often given to students who have demonstrated or shown potential for excellence in a certain area or discipline, irrespective of financial need. Grants based on financial need are awarded from federal and state governments, institutions, or private organizations. The most common federal grant is the Pell grant. The following section describes some of the main federal financial aid programs.

Federal Pell Grants

In 1972, the Basic Educational Grant created Pell grants as a way to make higher education available to all students.[47] They are awarded only to undergraduate students who have not previously earned a bachelor’s or professional degree. Students are eligible to receive one Pell grant award per year.[48] Other forms of financial aid may be used in conjunction with the Pell grant.[49] The U.S. Department of Education uses a standard formula to determine eligibility and “expected family contribution” (EFC) to cover the additional expenses not met by the grant. In general, the Pell grant provides awards between $400 and $3,000 for low-income students, most of whom are from families with annual incomes less than $20,000. In fiscal year 1998, the program was funded at $6.7 billion, with $1,876 being the average amount awarded.[50] In fiscal year 2001, an estimated 4.3 million students were recipients of Pell grants, with an estimated average award of $2,299.[51] For fiscal year 2003, the Bush administration is requesting $10.9 billon, with awards ranging between $400 and $4,000 per student (see table 5.4). The fiscal year 2003 request should provide 4.5 million students with Pell grants, an increase of 55,000 students from fiscal year 2002.[52]

Campus-Based Programs

Campus-based programs, such as the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Federal Work-Study (FWS), and Federal Perkins loan programs, are administered by educational institutions. Not all institutions that participate in campus-based programs offer all three programs. Colleges that do participate receive an annual allotment from the federal government for each of the programs in which the school participates. Campus-based programs provide aid administrators with flexibility in packaging financial aid awards to meet student needs.[53]

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)

The FSEOG is designed for undergraduates with exceptional financial need and gives priority to students who receive Pell grants. FSEOG is dependent on the availability of campus-based funding.[54] In fiscal year 1998, the program was funded at $621 million, and for fiscal year 2003, the President is requesting $725 million (see table 5.4).[55] This level of funding would provide approximately 1.2 million students aid, with an average