Bridging the Gap: Financial Advising for Community College Students
Today I'd like to discuss the financial aid access of a very important group: community college students. The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), released earlier this month, revealed an interesting truth: Community college students place a high value on financial aid advising, but they rarely take advantage of it.
The CCSSE, based on five years of data from 700,000 students at 548 institutions, tracks measures of student learning and retention, such as how students spend their time on campus. The data that caught my eye was the following:
Sixty percent of students surveyed rated financial aid advising as "very important," while 23 percent said it was "not at all important."
However, when asked if they used these services, only 17 percent of students said they "often" took advantage of their school's financial aid advising, while 32 percent did so "rarely or never."
So what's keeping these students from getting the financial aid advising they need and want? The CCSSE points out the unique challenges of the community college population. More than half of these students work more than 20 hours per week, and about one-third spend 11 hours or more per week caring for dependents. On top of that, almost two-thirds of these students are enrolled part time.
The data paints a picture of students who are pulled in multiple directions, with responsibilities to employers and family members that might eclipse their own needs. Factor in the high percentage of part-time attendees, and we can guess that these students aren't spending time in line at the financial aid office but rather rushing off campus to handle their other obligations.
Let's take the situation of a student who's seeking financial aid advice. Is she even on campus when the financial aid office is open? Does the office provide any evening hours? Even if she attends a school that makes the effort to offer evening advising hours, this student may be too rushed—or, frankly, too tired—to take advantage of these services after a day of work and classes.
It seems that we in the financial aid community need to brainstorm about new ways to reach our community college audience and give them the guidance they need. Can we use a little technology to close the gap between demand and opportunity? E-mail conversations, online chats, and even relatively old-fashioned phone appointments might add up to a greater number of students reached. Of course, getting the word out about these services will be half the challenge. But if the CCSSE's data is any indication, community college students will be eager to take advantage of financial aid advising in any form.
Have you tried these methods at your institution? Do nontraditional office hours garner significant attendance? How about using technology to bridge the gap? We want to hear your insight on the dilemma and what's worked for you!
Posted by Susan Nathan on December 03, 2007 at 03:24 PM EST
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Blog Author
Susan Nathan
Vice President, Lender and School Services
Biography
Susan Nathan is Vice President of Lender and School Services at American Student Assistance (ASA)®. She has held this position since October of 2002. Ms. Nathan joined ASA in February 1987 as supervisor of the external program review unit. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in product development, operations, client management and customer service, and marketing. She has been a member of the design teams for a number of ASA’s signature products, including FASTFUND, ASA’s disbursement product, and ASA Direct, ASA’s web processing tool. She was the manager of the business plan for ASA’s major system conversion in 1998.
She is credited with the development of ASA’s nationally recognized client management team. Ms. Nathan oversees the ASA Advisory Council, and is the staff liaison to the Marketing Planning Committee of ASA’s Board of Directors.
Prior to joining ASA, Ms. Nathan was a Financial Aid Officer for Lesley College. She is a graduate of Brown University and a fellow of the Institute for Educational Leadership. She is a member of state, regional and national financial aid associations and is routinely sought by the financial aid community as a professional development trainer.
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