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  • Rural counties far from universities struggle to recruit teachers

    Rural counties far from universities struggle to recruit teachers


    Nine rural counties, located more than 60 miles from university teacher preparation programs, struggle to recruit enough teachers to fill classrooms.

    Credit: Julie Leopo for EdSource

    Nine rural California counties, most struggling with student achievement and teacher recruitment, are in teacher education deserts, according to a report released Tuesday from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. 

    Alpine, Del Norte, Imperial, Inyo, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Sierra and Siskiyou counties do not have teacher preparation programs within 60 miles of their county offices of education, according to the report, “California’s Teacher Education Deserts: An Overlooked and Growing Equity Challenge.” 

    “We know that research suggests that teachers are more likely to complete their student teaching and also secure employment close to where they receive their teacher training,” said Kai Mathews, project director for the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. 

    As a result, six of the nine counties have a higher percentage of underprepared teachers than the state average of 4% to 5%, according to the study. Of the nine counties, Modoc and Lassen have the highest percentage of underprepared teachers at 14% and 17% respectively.

    Underprepared teachers work on intern credentials or emergency-style permits that don’t require them to complete teacher training, or on waivers that allow them to teach a subject outside their credential. 

    Because the state requires that districts only hire underprepared teachers if fully qualified teachers are not available, high rates of underprepared teachers are an indicator that districts in that county are struggling to recruit and hire qualified teachers, said UCLA researchers.

    Rural teachers scarce

    There could be many reasons teachers are hard to find in rural areas, including fewer nearby institutions of higher education, which leads to a lower than average percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees and therefore a smaller pool of potential teacher candidates, according to the study.

    Counties that border other states and countries also have significantly higher teacher vacancy rates compared with nonborder districts, said Hui Huang, a researcher on the project. All nine of the California counties classified as teacher education deserts are bordered by either Oregon, Nevada, Arizona or Mexico.

    “Rural school districts face significant challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers,” said Yuri Calderon, executive director of the Small School Districts’ Association. “In addition to the proximity to teacher educational programs, rural communities face challenges related to competition from higher urban compensation schedules, housing shortages and a lack of support resources commonly found in urban areas.”

    Rural counties also lose talented young residents who go to urban and suburban areas for more opportunity, Huang said. In small districts, the loss of even one teacher can impact course availability for students, according to Learning Policy Institute research.

    Teacher shortage affects students

    The geographic location of a school district plays a significant role in teacher recruitment and retention, and ultimately in the educational outcomes of the district’s students, according to the report. 

    Students in each of these counties, except Mono, fell below the state average on the English language arts portion of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, also known as CAASPP, in the 2022-23 school year. All nine counties fell below the state average of students who meet standards on the math portion of the test.

    Low-performing schools may struggle to attract teachers due to negative public perceptions, Huang said. Research also indicates that highly qualified educators are substantially more likely to leave low-performing schools.

    Time for creative solutions

    School districts in Mono County have had to get creative to fill teacher positions, despite their prime location near Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Lakes, said Stacey Adler, Mono County superintendent of schools. One district with a dual-immersion program hired teachers from South America to fill open teaching positions, she said.

    The high cost of housing and a growing disinterest in the profession among young people are the biggest hurdles to hiring new teachers in Mono County, Adler said.

    “We have got to start them early because, quite frankly, there aren’t a lot of kids that say they want to be teachers these days,” she said.

    Adler taught child development at Mammoth High School for two years in an attempt to get students interested in teaching, she said. Now the school plans to use a portion of a recent grant to develop a K-12 education pathway at the school.

    “Our rural students and our rural teacher workforce, as small as it is, is suffering,”  said Annamarie Francois, associate dean of public engagement at UCLA and a member of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. “We have a responsibility and an obligation to our community to bring our creative solutions and innovations to bear on those parts of our state.”

    One answer may be creating teacher credentialing programs at community colleges in these counties, according to the study.  Although all nine teaching education deserts are not located near a university teacher preparation program, five are within 60 miles of a community college. 

    Early childhood education programs already in place at community colleges could be expanded to K-12 licensing programs, according to the report. The state could also work with county offices of education to develop residency programs so that teacher candidates could earn a credential without leaving the area to take classes or to student teach.

    Multiple states, like Florida, Texas and Washington, already offer similar credentialing pathways.

    “Expanding local college programs to include K-12 certification, particularly at community colleges, can be a positive solution to address the challenges faced by rural school districts,” Small School Districts’ Association director Calderon said. “By growing teachers from within these communities, rural districts can improve recruitment and retention efforts.”

    Although the study recommended that community college credentialing programs focus on residents who already hold bachelor’s degrees, Steve Bautista of the Center for Teacher Education at Santa Ana College suggested that the 39 bachelor’s degrees already being offered in community colleges be expanded to include degrees that could lead to teacher preparation programs.

    “Five of the nine TEP deserts will fall away if we were able to utilize, in some capacity, community colleges to license teachers,” UCLA’s Mathews said. 

     UCLA researchers also recommend that the state take a comprehensive approach to recruiting and retaining teachers in these counties, including financial support, mentorship programs and professional development targeted to rural teachers. County offices of education should also collaborate to develop a regional marketing campaign to recruit teachers, according to the report.

    State policy would have to change to put many of these programs in place, Francois said. Leaders from the state’s community colleges, universities and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing could work together to produce a feasibility study on how to create a seamless bachelor’s degree and credential program at rural community colleges, she said.

    “It’s going to take collaboration among folks that maybe haven’t collaborated together in bold thinking, and some courage to think about how we might do this differently in unique spaces,” she said. 





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  • Puppetry is far more than child’s play for young learners in Oakland

    Puppetry is far more than child’s play for young learners in Oakland


    Trevor Aguilar, a 6-year-old, narrates his own story with a puppet while playing with Jacqui June Whitlock, a puppet education specialist at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland.

    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    Puppetry is more than just child’s play at Children’s Fairyland, Oakland’s iconic storybook theme park. Small children have been stimulated by the wonders of live performance at the Storybook Puppet Theater since 1956, but now they will also be exposed to arts education programming specially crafted for preschool learners. A new puppet education initiative, Puppet Playdates, takes hands-on learning to the next level.

    Once upon a time comes alive for a new generation every Thursday after the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. puppet shows, when children are cordially invited to a nearby meadow to make friends with marionettes after the curtain falls.

    Amber Rose Arthur
    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    On a recent morning, Amber Rose Arthur, 5, wasted no time breathing life into the unicorn puppet, its sparkles glittering in the sun. Every so often, she gently nudged other children with the unicorn’s horn to bestow them with magic powers. In the interests of total disclosure: She gave this reporter some enchantment too.

    “They don’t get enough arts in school anymore, so events like this are great,” said her father, Gregory Arthur, watching as the little girl explored the craft of puppetry and social interactions in one fell swoop.  “It stimulates the brain more than a lot of other things. It gets them to think and learn, and it makes them smile.”

    Nestled on the shores of Lake Merritt, this bewitching arts education program invites children to learn the magic of puppetry while immersing themselves in classic fables including James M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan,”  Frank L. Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” This program also lays the groundwork for a proposed puppet education program that will pay visits to early-learning classrooms in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).

    “Fairyland is designed to inspire a young child to have a great imagination,” said Joy Peacock, client and community relations director for the PNC Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PNC Bank, which is partnering on the puppet-based early-learning program. “It’s not all laid out there for you, like in TV. You have to rely on your own imagination. Puppetry is very interactive, it’s very tactile, it’s very creative.”

    Coming out of the pandemic, Fairyland held focus groups with local teachers to pinpoint what kinds of activities would be most beneficial for the preschool cohort, and the takeaway was that children today need more social-emotional learning as well as more exposure to the creative impulse. Enter puppets. 

    “One of the things that actually made me really sad is that the teachers were saying the children are losing their imagination,” said Maria Rodriguez, manager of the puppet theater. “They’re losing their ability to make believe. For me, you know, I can’t imagine life without imagination, so I was just like, oh goodness. We need to help inspire the children to learn how to make believe. We want to help them to light that spark.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ZRaXTZKcM

    That’s basically Jacqui June Whitlock’s calling in life. A former transitional kindergarten teacher with a background in theater and an affinity for puppetry, this is her dream gig. She studied child development in college and the art of shadow puppetry in Bali. She has encountered more than one child who was too afraid to express themselves, until she handed them a puppet. Suddenly they found their voice.

    “For me, this has been like a lifelong career. Incorporating social-emotional learning with puppetry, that’s my bread and butter,” said Whitlock, a puppet education specialist. “Something wonderful happens when you hand a child a puppet. Puppets are a great conduit for storytelling and learning without putting any pressure on the child.”

    Whitlock is a master at teaching through play. Holding court with a cavalcade of puppets, from rabbits and dragons to cats, after a recent performance of “Peter Pan,” she relishes helping children spin yarns of their own. 

    “I’ve been dreaming of doing a program like this for years. It’s amazing that we finally have the funding to do it,” she said. “In America, we tend to think of puppets as simple toys for children, but really there’s so much more to puppetry. Many other cultures think of them as more than that. They can be a very complex tool.” 

    At the play dates, she helps guide groups of pint-sized puppeteers as they learn and play. If a child has a puppet pretend to bite her, for example, she inquires whether the puppet is hungry, opening up a dialogue with the child. But she always wants the kiddo to lead the way. 

    “They weave their own story,” said Whitlock, who crafts a lot of her own puppets by hand. “You’re not really telling them what the story is, they’re telling you.”

    Empowering children to express themselves is particularly critical right now, experts say, because this generation missed out on so many formative experiences because of school closures and other pandemic disruptions. The arts can be an effortless way to boost special emotional learning, she says, through the kind of make-believe games that children are naturally drawn to. 

    Jacqui June Whitlock, a puppet education specialist at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, teaches through puppet play and imagination.
    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    “Teachers were saying that they were seeing a lack of imagination or a lack of pretend play happening in their classrooms, noticing that children weren’t interacting as much,” she said. “And puppets are an excellent tool for cultivating that pretend play, also just communicating with each other, it’s sort of like a conduit for your personality … It just makes it so easy for them to communicate with each other and break down that barrier.”

    Puppets can play a role in helping children communicate on a deeper level, experts say, by externalizing their emotions onto the inanimate object. The puppet becomes a proxy that helps kids process hard situations, grapple with fears and explore their feelings through metaphor.

    “One of my favorite things that I’ve observed is that puppet playtime creates a lot of interaction between the grownup and the kiddo,” said Whitlock. “It’s like time slows down for them. Also, I put in a bench recently, so now I’m also seeing a lot of elders, and I love the interactions between grandparents and their littles. It’s very nurturing.”

    Of course, puppetry can also fuel expressions of pure escapism, encouraging little children to create their own big adventures. 

    “Children and puppetry go hand in hand, because kids have no trouble suspending their disbelief, and endowing the simplest props with life,” said Carey Perloff, former artistic director of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and a longtime puppet proponent. “Puppets are a direct conduit to the imagination. Because they can be realistic or totally abstract, they invite audience members to project their own idea of character and circumstance onto a piece of fabric or some papier mache, and thus to transform it into something magical.”

    Trevor Aguilar finds joy in using his imagination with a dragon puppet.
    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    Trevor Aguilar, for one, celebrated his sixth birthday by weaving a tale of intrigue with his new fuzzy friends. He narrated an adventure in which the grandmother puppet saved the townspeople from the evil machinations of the fire-breathing dragon puppet. The last child at the puppet play date, he didn’t seem to want the fun to end. 

    Indeed, some children become so enamored of the marionettes that they make a point of paying a visit to Whitlock and her buckets of puppets every time they visit the park. 

    “I’ve got my regulars, which is so great,” said Whitlock. “They know exactly what they want. ‘OK, I’m here. I’m getting the raccoon puppet today.’ ”





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  • Community college students far from a four-year university are less likely to transfer, study says

    Community college students far from a four-year university are less likely to transfer, study says


    Madera Community College is in the rural Central Valley. Fresno State, about 22 miles away, is the closest four-year public university.

    Credit: Ashleigh Panoo / EdSource

    Why is it harder for community college students studying far from four-year universities to transfer? 

    The answer to that question — which is at the heart of a new study previewed at a webinar last week — could influence state higher education officials’ thinking on proposals to expand bachelor’s degree offerings at community colleges.

    Most community colleges in California are within a 25-mile drive of the nearest California State University or University of California campus, according to the study by the RP Group, the independent nonprofit that conducts research for California’s system of 116 community colleges. But among the 29 colleges that are not, a research team led by Darla Cooper and Daisy Segovia found lower rates of transfer from two-year to four-year institutions.

    Gaps were most visible across the seven community colleges located the farthest from public universities. Colleges at least 87 miles from the nearest UC or CSU had a 28% transfer rate, researchers said, lagging colleges within a 25-mile drive by 8 percentage points. 

    The study noted a smaller gap between a middle tier of community colleges located closer to four-year institutions and those within a 25-mile commute. A third of students at community colleges 27 to 78 miles from a California university transferred compared to 36% of those attending a campus where a four-year institution was 25 miles away or less.

    “We need to bring the education to where the students are and not force the students to go to where the education is,” said Cooper, RP Group’s executive director. 

    Proximity to a four-year public university is far from the only factor related to community college transfer rates. RP Group’s own research has identified lots of practices common among students who continue on to four-year institutions, like completing transferable math and English courses in their first year, visiting an academic adviser and getting involved in student programs like Umoja and Puente, said Cooper and Segovia, a senior researcher at RP Group. 

    Money is a consideration, too: California community college students interviewed in 2019 cited the cost of a university education as a top hurdle to continuing their education. 

    The new study examining the role of distance in transfer rates comes at a time when concerns over regional worker shortages in fields like education and nursing have stoked debate about how to make bachelor’s degrees more accessible to students who might fill those labor gaps.  

    California’s overall higher education plan, first released in 1960, left bachelor’s degrees as the purview of four-year universities. But state lawmakers in recent years have relaxed that constraint. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing community colleges to add up to 30 baccalaureate degree programs annually, leading to dozens of new offerings. The California Community Colleges website now lists 45 approved bachelor’s degree programs.

    Still, state law places significant checks on which baccalaureate degrees community colleges can green-light. Colleges can’t start a four-year degree if CSU or UC already offers it and must consult with university officials before proposed degrees move forward. CSU and UC can object to proposals they believe duplicate existing university degrees — rules that apply even in rural areas not served by a Cal State or UC campus. 

    That framework has at times put the community colleges at odds with colleagues at four-year institutions. The board of governors for the statewide community college system last year approved a program over CSU’s formal objections. 

    A measure that would have further blurred the boundaries between two- and four-year institutions fell short in the 2024 legislative session. Newsom in September vetoed a bill that would have permitted 15 community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing, opening the door for community colleges to create degree programs already offered at CSU.

    Researchers probe ‘university education deserts’

    The RP Group’s work builds on previous studies exploring what researchers call “education deserts,” places that either had no college or university or that only had a community college. A 2016 research brief for the American Council on Education reported that such communities tended to have lower college attainment compared with the rest of the country. 

    The RP Group study — “Exploring Geographic Isolation as a Barrier to Equitable Transfer Outcomes” — followed first-time college students enrolled at a community college between 2012 and 2017 who intended to transfer to a four-year institution. It used data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to measure those students’ outcomes after six years. Driving distances were measured from campus to campus. 

    Researchers excluded Calbright, an online community college, as well as a newer community college and a college focused on students learning technical trades. That left 113 community colleges covering more than a million students in the study sample.

    The analysis defined three categories of community colleges by their proximity to a public university in California. Researchers dubbed the first two groups – Tier 1 schools, which were at least 87 miles away, and Tier 2 schools, which were 27 to 78 miles away – to be colleges located in “university education deserts.” A third group of community colleges within 25 miles of a university were not considered deserts.

    Comparing the three categories revealed demographic trends. Tier 1 and Tier 2 colleges tended to serve a higher percentage of Latino students, first generation students and low income students than colleges not located in university education deserts.   

    Researchers also observed disparities by comparing the transfer rates of students at Tier 1 institutions to students who were not in a university education desert but who shared the same race and ethnicity. For example, 20% of Black students attending a Tier 1 college — those that were the farthest from a public four-year in California– transferred, compared with 33% of those attending a college in the category closest to a university.

    “It’s an equity issue,” Cooper said. “We wanted to see if there were any particular groups that were being disadvantaged by their location in the state.”

    The RP Group’s study also reported that students at Tier 1 colleges who succeeded in transferring more often left California altogether to do so. Across all three proximity-to-university tiers, a plurality of transfer students landed at a Cal State campus. But 38% of Tier 1 college students transferred out of state for a four-year degree compared to only 16% of students not in a university education desert.

    Future research – and possible solutions

    Segovia said future research could take into account not only community colleges’ proximity to public universities in California, but also their distance to nonprofit universities and out-of-state institutions.

    Looking across state lines could explain some of the variation researchers observed in transfer rates among the community colleges that are the farthest from a public university in California. 

    College of the Siskiyous, which is roughly 200 miles from Cal Poly Humboldt but only 70 miles from Southern Oregon University, had a 32% rate of transfer, Segovia said, beating out some community colleges located closer to in-state four-year schools. 

    The researchers also plan to interview students about how proximity to a four-year college has impacted their education. 

    Webinar panelists discussed several barriers preventing community college students who live far from a four-year university from earning bachelor’s degrees — and some strategies that could ease the transition.

    Panelist Joshua Simon, a student at Lemoore College who serves on the board of the West Hills Community College District, said students struggle to finance their bachelor’s degree education, costs exacerbated by a long commute to a four-year university.

    “One of the hardest things is transportation,” he said. “Some students don’t usually drive, or some students don’t have the means of public transportation … so that’s a little bit of a difficulty when it comes to transferring, at least in-state or locally, around that 40-mile range.” 

    Kevin G. Walthers, the president of Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, said students from his college often don’t get admitted to the nearest Cal State campus, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Those that do, he said, may save money by living at home but find their 70- to 80-mile round trip commute costs $30 a day. 

    Cal State admissions data for fall 2023 shows that 63% of Allan Hancock students who applied to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo were accepted. Of those students, 71% enrolled.

    “If the students are going to finish their degree in two years, and then they can’t afford to leave for Fresno or Northridge or Bakersfield, and they can’t get into Cal Poly, they’re just stuck,” he said. “Given the fact that most of our students are Latino, they’re stuck in a way that is systemically racist. There’s no way around that.”

    Walthers said the lack of bachelor’s degree programs has a simple solution: “Either have the CSU offer services here or allow Allan Hancock College to provide those services.”

    Kate Mahar, the associate vice president of innovation and strategic initiatives at Shasta College, said the school operates several programs with Chico State, about 80 miles south. A dual admission program allows students who apply to Chico State the option to attend Shasta College instead; it also guarantees them a seat at Chico when they’re ready to transfer, so long as they meet eligibility requirements. Students can also receive a Chico State business degree at Shasta College.

    Chico State admitted 87% of Shasta College applicants, according to CSU admissions data for fall 2023. Almost 53% of those students enrolled.

    “They really take it to heart that we are in their service area, even though (some students) are about five hours away from Chico,” she said.





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  • California colleges report no financial aid delays so far but fear federal upheaval

    California colleges report no financial aid delays so far but fear federal upheaval


    A 2025-26 FAFSA form.

    Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource

    Financial aid staff at California’s colleges and universities have a cautiously optimistic message to share this spring — but are weighing contingencies in case massive restructuring and cuts at the U.S. Department of Education upend federal aid this summer and fall. 

    First, the good news. Federal aid for this spring term — like Pell Grants and work-study aid — has already been disbursed. Universities are processing files from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, for next fall on schedule. And in turn, colleges are sending prospective students preview offers of grants and other support they are eligible to receive if they enroll.

    But trepidation is building about what’s ahead for the hundreds of thousands of California college students receiving Pell Grants and federal loans. Layoffs that have roughly halved the U.S. Department of Education’s workforce “raise serious concerns about the near future, particularly potential delays to the upcoming FAFSA cycle and the federal government’s capacity to accurately distribute billions in student aid,” said Toni DeBoni, the associate vice president for enrollment management at CSU Channel Islands.

    Those worries come following President Donald Trump’s executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all lawful steps” to close the Department of Education. The White House wants to potentially shift the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and even transfer Pell Grants to another department.

    Trump administration officials have pledged not to interrupt services as they wind down the Education Department, which would require congressional action to be formally eliminated. Trump says student loan servicing has “been a mess” and that it would improve under the SBA. But critics charge that dismantling Education parceling out its workload could hamper the distribution of aid to millions of students and harm student borrowers.

    If those dire predictions prove true, the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems would face disruption to a major funding source. Cal State received almost $2.3 billion and UC about $1.7 billion in federal student aid in the 2022-23 school year, much of it for Pell Grants and student loans. Any delay would also be felt at California community colleges, where 24% of students received a Pell Grant in the 2023-24 school year.

    Both university systems are reassuring prospective students and saying they think federal student aid will continue uninterrupted, despite fears of possible cutbacks.

    A UC spokesperson said in a statement that the system of 10 campuses does “not expect recent news about the U.S. Department of Education to impact our ability to award and disburse financial aid to our students” and that federal grants and loans remain available “with no anticipated changes to availability in the foreseeable future.”

    A CSU spokesperson said the 23-campus university system does not anticipate any delay or stop to federal student aid in the 2025-26 school year, adding that “the number of [student and parent] concerns regarding recent federal actions haven’t been widespread.” Systemwide, almost 42% of CSU students receive a Pell Grant, a form of aid for students from low-income families that can provide up to $7,395 for the 2025-26 award year. 

    However, Cal State officials addressed the uncertainty about federal changes more directly at the March meeting of the system’s board of trustees.

    “We know that there have been some (departures) of employees in the Department of Education,” Chancellor Mildred García said. “We are concerned about the process it will take to really go through the FAFSA, and that’s the most that we have heard.”

    “We don’t know who’s going to be processing our FAFSA applications, who is the people in charge, etc.,” she added.

    Nathan Evans, the CSU system’s chief academic officer, said that students and families seeking help with their federal student aid “are having difficulty in connecting and engaging with folks that support the FAFSA process at the federal level. So our teams at our universities are working as hard as possible, but sometimes those answers can only come from the folks that are helping support that directly.”

    Meanwhile, the California Student Aid Commission reported in late February that the number of high school seniors completing financial aid applications was down 25% compared with the same point two years ago, before the rocky rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA. State officials attributed the decline in part to a nearly two-month delay in the opening last fall of the current federal financial aid cycle.

    Aiming to boost applications, the California Student Aid Commission extended the state’s priority deadline — the date by which students planning to attend four-year schools must apply for most state aid programs — until April 2. The latest commission data shows that as of April 1, about 55% of current high school seniors have completed a FAFSA or the California Dream Act Application, a form of state financial aid aimed at undocumented students. An aid commission spokesperson said the commission plans to soon compare applications through early April to previous years.

    So far, there are promising signs that aid applications are increasing. An analysis by the National College Attainment Network found that FAFSA submissions in California have risen 11% year-over-year. Financial aid staff at Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Bakersfield and UC Riverside said they have observed more FAFSA applications than in the previous year or two, suggesting a return to normal after complications with the new FAFSA.  

    But financial aid officials said Trump’s call to close the Department of Education has led some families to mistakenly conclude that federal student aid is no longer available, discouraging them from applying. Officials are working to counter that misinformation.

    Chad Morris, the director of financial aid and scholarships at CSU Bakersfield, has a simple message to families questioning whether federal aid will be reduced or delayed: Apply anyway. “Take the steps as if there won’t be any disruption,” he said. 

    Cal Poly Pomona is also trying to keep students focused on the here-and-now basics: The Department of Education is still operational; Pell Grants and federal student loans are protected by the law and are still available; students should apply as usual.

    “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Jessica Wagoner, the university’s senior associate vice president for enrollment management and services, “but what we can do is tell (students) what’s going on now.”

    Those soothing messages could be muddied by the loaded choice facing students who are eligible for federal aid as U.S. citizens or permanent residents, but who have spouses or parents who are undocumented immigrants. Students from such mixed-status families may have particular apprehension about whether data submitted through the FAFSA could be used for immigration enforcement purposes, though federal law prevents the U.S. Department of Education from using information students enter into the FAFSA for a purpose other than determining a student’s aid.

    University of California students have sued the Education Department, accusing it of turning over sensitive federal student aid data to members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. A federal judge in March blocked DOGE from accessing private data housed at the Education Department. 

    “When students are completing the FAFSA, they need to really look at the risk factor that they may take, especially mixed-status families,” said Jose Aguilar, the executive director of UC Riverside’s financial aid office. “But at the end of the day, if they are eligible for these federal grants and programs, I would encourage them to apply through the FAFSA.”

    UC Riverside has already started sending new students preliminary aid award letters. Its students receive about $79 million in Pell Grants, another $3 million from federal work study and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant combined, and an additional $70 million in federal direct subsidized student loans, Aguilar said.

    Given the swings in federal education policy this spring, some university officials are starting to think about how they might respond if federal aid is delayed. DeBoni of CSU Channel Islands said her campus is “actively preparing contingency measures.” The university could extend internal deadlines for students to accept admissions offers or apply for scholarships, she said, and institutional scholarships could help to fund students’ expenses.

    At Cal Poly Pomona, Wagoner said the university could give students waiting for aid similar leeway. But the university, where almost 44% of students receive a Pell Grant, would face “a very big challenge” in the unlikely event of an abrupt drop in Pell dollars, Wagoner added. “I don’t know if we — if any institution — could supplement that loss.”





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