college-students

Are students priced out of college?


New report examines college affordability, highlights need for improved federal policy.

college-studentsStudent body presidents participating in a survey said they feel high college costs limit career opportunity, yet student leaders are vastly underutilized as stakeholders on and off campus.

High college costs limit college access and career opportunity by pricing students out of an education or opportunities to develop critical skills in extra-curricular activities and unpaid internships, according to a new National Campus Leadership Council (NCLC) report, “Student Aid and Job Readiness,” released in partnership with Blackboard.

Beyond helping policymakers better engage students, the report is intended to help give student leaders greater information about how to improve their efforts to make college affordable and improve career development.

(Next page: How students’ perspectives can help inform policy)

NCLC’s National Affordability Working Group is already working on recommendations for their peers at colleges around the country. NCLC will be using the report to help influence work that they will be doing in the coming year as they strategically explore policy solutions that student leaders can champion.

The report, supported by the Lumina Foundation, highlights student body presidents’perspectives as community leaders and considers how the policymakers can better engage them as stakeholders and advocates.

NCLC surveyed student body presidents at more than 250 colleges around the country to understand their perceptions, ideas, and knowledge about financial aid policy and student finances. Following the survey, NCLC conducted roundtable discussions with more than 300 student and business leaders in 15 cities to generate their insights into how current financial aid policies support career development and success in the workplace.

“We heard directly from student leaders and employers in every corner of the country, and they all told us the same thing: higher education is missing the mark on supporting student success after graduation,” said Andy MacCracken, NCLC Executive Director. “Student leaders are critical to closing that gap.”

As an example, student body presidents named student loan payments the top threat to students’ future financial success. Yet, only a quarter of student body presidents – some of the most engaged and informed students on their campuses – feel knowledgeable about programs like income-based repayment, which helps make student loans manageable, according to the report.

“The education system is clearly not serving the needs of learners today, and that should come as no surprise to any of us,” said Katie Blot, SVP of Corporate Strategy and Industry Relations for Blackboard, who recently participated in an event at the White House in partnership with NCLC, focused on these issues. “So it’s time the collective education community – including organizations like Blackboard and NCLC – think of ways we can reimagine how we can make the system better; and it starts with learners like these student body leaders.”

“I hope this report is the beginning of a conversation about improving federal aid with student voices front and center,” said Max Cowan, University of Idaho Student Body President. “The report is important because it is the first time that students weren’t just the subject of the conversation, but active participants. It lays the groundwork for how to engage students in every part of the policy making process and set the standard for how to solicit input from local campus and community leaders.”

MacCracken presented the report’s findings to the higher education community at BbWorld, Blackboard’s annual conference held this year in Washington, D.C. On hand were student body presidents from NCLC’s National Affordability Working Group to facilitate discussion with attendees about implications for campus policy and programs.

The National Campus Leadership Council is a national organization that works with a broad network of student body presidents and their teams on leadership development and policy advocacy at the campus, state, and national levels.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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Laura Ascione

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