The results from the College Board are in: The U.S. government needs to invest more dollars in tuition aid for lower-income prospective college students.
The organization concluded a yearlong study on Wednesday with recommendations that the federal government make a greater investment in need-based financial aid, according to a College Board press release. The College Board nationally administers the SAT and the Advanced Placement program.
Congress is set to reauthorize the Federal Higher Education Act of 1965 early this year. The act allocates federal funds to U.S. universities.
The Blue Ribbon Panel of the College Board's National Dialogue on Student Financial Aid, which consisted of about 41 members, was composed of faculty from various colleges and universities and members of non-profit educational organizations.
The panel issued a report entitled "Challenging Times, Clear Choices," which included 10 recommendations for the federal government to consider when it reauthorizes its higher education act.
"We don't know for sure what sort of impact our report will have, but we would love for Congress to take it into account when revising its higher education policy," Topiel said.
The recommendations included a substantial increase in funding for Pell Grants, one of the primary grants offered as part of the University's need-based financial aid program, said Yvonne Howard, University director of student financial services.
About 25 percent of University students receive need-based financial aid, the only type offered through the University, Howard said.
"The University has a policy of equal access -- we really believe anyone offered admission should be able to come and should not be limited by financial constraints," she said.
About 12 percent of the University's need-based aid is funded through grants such as the Pell Grant and the Supplemental Equal Opportunity Grant.
"In the past two years, we have been able to offer 100 percent of what students who receive need-based aid require to come here," Howard said. "Being able to do that relies heavily on federal government funding."
Some other recommendations by the panel focused on maintaining need-based programs, linking increases in tuition to increases in need-based aid, improvement in federal matching programs, and simplifying the financial aid application process.
The study found that about 95 percent of high-scoring students from middle to upper class families attend college. This starkly contrasts the percentage of students who are in similar academic standing but are from low-income families, said Gary Orfield, Harvard University Professor and Academic Research Advisor to the panel.
"There are too many fully qualified students who aren't going to college simply because they come from low-income families, and too many students who don't finish college because of financial reasons, especially those who first enroll in two-year colleges," Orfield said.
With the College Board's newly proposed solution and Congress' decision pending, students and schools alike can only await the outcome.
"The fundamental issue is that the federal government, the state governments, and the universities should all concentrate funding on students who can't go to college because of financial reasons," Orfield said. "They have all agreed to do this, but it is a promise that is easy in concept and hard in action."
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