Why do so many of today’s learners who are eligible for public benefits miss out on the assistance they need? A new report from Higher Learning Advocates explains why and what can be done to change this reality.
According to the report, students need access to financial support beyond Pell Grants and state educational financial aid to adequately address the basic needs insecurity that interferes with their postsecondary goals. Means-tested public benefit programs offer a potential solution to help ease financial stressors. Unfortunately, government and technology innovators haven’t developed a single application to provide students an easy pathway to getting the support they need, but strides forward are being made.
For instance, some states and county government health and human service agencies and higher education agencies and institutions are sharing data as a means of streamlining access—matching data to identify students who could benefit from SNAP or to make individuals in some public benefits programs automatically eligible for state financial aid. These innovations are promising, the report notes. The federal government also has a responsibility to facilitate data sharing by adding a checkbox to the FAFSA that allows students to directly notify the government they are interested in applying for means-tested public benefits. It can also use its bully pulpit to encourage more states, county government agencies, and higher education institutions to do the difficult work of developing data sharing agreements.