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WV-FAIR overview
WV-FAIR, West Virginia’s
Financial Aid Information and Resources, is an initiative geared to
supplement current efforts aimed at increasing our state’s
college-going rate.
According to data collected in the 2000 census,
West Virginia has the nation's lowest educational attainment rate as
measured by the percentage of the state's adult population (25 years
of age and older) with a bachelor's degree. Only 15.3% of West
Virginia adults have earned a bachelor's degree. The national
average, and the averages of neighboring states in the Appalachian
region, are substantially higher than West Virginia. West
Virginia trails the nation and other states in the Appalachian
region in terms of educational attainment, which is a major
impediment to self-sustaining economic development and improving the
quality of life for West Virginia's population.
One of the primary reasons for West Virginia’s low education
attainment rate is the lack of awareness among parents or guardians
about financial aid opportunities for their children that can make
postsecondary education more affordable. If parents assume that
college is too expensive, and if they do not know that financial
assistance is available for their children, then they will not
encourage their children to pursue postsecondary education. The
WV-FAIR Program proposes to focus on this lack of parental awareness
about financial aid opportunities and to develop a targeted approach
for increasing parental awareness as a strategy for increasing
postsecondary attendance and thus increasing the state's educational
attainment rate.
The purpose of WV-FAIR is to
increase parents' awareness about the range of financial aid
opportunities available for their children in postsecondary
education. WV-FAIR's work, therefore, will focus on three
activities: (1) Developing informational materials, (2) Conducting
outreach to parents and (3), Providing parents with additional
follow-up information and technical assistance.
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