WV-FAIR
In-Depth
1) Goals and
Objectives
The proposed West Virginia FAIR
(Financial Aid Information and Resources) Program is designed to
help economically distressed counties in West Virginia develop a
world-class work force that is well educated and appropriately
trained for the job market. The WV- FAIR Program will meet this
state objective by increasing the educational attainment
rate.
2) Purpose and Need for the
Project
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, as the following chart
demonstrates.' 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.
Chart 1. Educational Attainment Rate, by
state.
State |
Educational Attainment
Rate |
|
Maryland |
32.3% |
|
Virginia |
31.9% |
|
U.S. Average |
25.6% |
|
Ohio |
24.6% |
|
Pennsylvania |
24.3% |
|
Tennessee |
22.0% |
|
Kentucky |
20.5% |
|
West Virginia |
15.3% |
There
are numerous reasons for West Virginia's low educational attainment
rate, and no single project can effectively address all of these
reasons. One of the primary reasons 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.
Research has documented that
"parental support and encouragement is one of the most important-if
not the most important-indicators of students' educational
aspirations.”2 Research findings also
indicate that "Students take their cues from their parents about
what is reasonable to expect for their educational goals, and they
plan their futures accordingly."3 The most recent and
compelling research in this vein has emerged from the "Creating a
College Culture" Project, a collaboration between the University of
California at Los Angeles and The Achievement Council, a public
interest nonprofit organization. WV-FAIR's mission is to work toward
the creation of a college culture in West Virginia by making parents
more informed and thus more effective advocates for their children's
education.
Survey
research also suggests that concerns about the cost of college are
widespread. According to a 1999 Public Agenda study, 69% of parents
of high school students are worried about paying for their children
to attend college and 61% of parents wish they had done more to
prepare financially for their child's college
education.4 Numerous research studies also indicate
that one of the most significant factors in determining access to
higher education is financial aid. The leading study of this type,
conducted in 1988 by Larry Leslie and Paul Brinkman, found that
financial aid played three major roles in shaping students'
decisions about postsecondary education: whether to enroll in
college or not; what institution to attend; and whether to continue
their enrollment from one year to the
next5.
Another key finding from Leslie and Brinkman is that the
influence of financial aid is strongest on the decisions of
low-income students, in large part because low-income students have
the greatest financial need.6 Compounding this problem is
the fact that low-income students often have less access to
information about financial aid programs than their more affluent
peers. In part, this is because many parents in West Virginia did
not attend college themselves and thus are unfamiliar with the
financial aid process. This lack of awareness on the part of parents
means they can not advise their children about how to obtain the
necessary financial aid. West Virginia, then, as a
comparatively poor state with a traditionally low educational
attainment rate, faces a vicious cycle: many students have
substantial need for financial aid, but many of these same students
and their parents do not know about the financial aid that is
available to them. Unaware of available financial aid, students are
deterred from pursuing postsecondary education, and as a result they
do not reach their full earning potential as adults. As adults and
parents themselves, many are unable to pay for their children's
postsecondary education and they remain unaware of the financial aid
that is available to help them, and so their children-another
generation of potential college students-are lost. This is the
vicious cycle that WV-FAIR seeks to shatter.
a) Work
Plan
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 (e.g., public service announcements on
radio and television, a toll-free number parents can call for
answers to financial aid questions, printed materials, audio and
video tapes) that identify and explain the range of institutional,
state, and federal financial aid opportunities for distribution to
parents. This phase of the project will be done during the summer
and early fall, prior to the start of the school year and well in
advance of financial aid program deadlines. As part of the materials
development process, the WV-FAIR coordinator will conduct focus
groups with parents to determine which media and which messages are
likely to be most effective for the target
audience.
2. Conducting
outreach to parents as part of parents' college fairs, financial
aid workshops and seminars, community events, and specially convened
WV-FAIR sessions to distribute informational materials and speak
about financial aid programs. This phase of the project will start
in October, as parents begin to consider postsecondary education
options for their children and how to pay for them. Outreach efforts
will be scheduled to ensure that information reaches parents in
advance of institutional, state, and federal deadlines, most of
which fall between November and May.
3. Providing parents
with additional follow-up information and technical assistance
to the extent possible on identifying and applying for financial
aid, and referring them to appropriate institutional, state, and
federal contacts for further information and assistance. This phase
of the project will begin in conjunction with outreach efforts, but
it is expected that the amount of follow-up activity will increase
as the school year progresses, with most of the follow-up activity
occurring from January through May.
The
WV-FAIR Coordinator, with organizational and logistical support of
the Department of Education and Arts and its five constituent
agencies, will perform all of these activities. The WV-FAIR
Coordinator will have access to the print, audio and video
production facilities of the State Library Commission and the
Educational Broadcasting Authority for the purpose of developing
informational materials. The Coordinator will contact the local
education agencies, high schools, and institutions of higher
education in the geographic service area to identify appropriate
events and venues for outreach activities, and to schedule special
WV-FAIR sessions with parent and community organizations. The
Coordinator will work in office space of the Department of Education
and the Arts, and have access to a computer, telephone, fax machine,
copier, and related office supplies that will enable the coordinator
to receive and respond to questions and informational requests from
parents.
Chart 2. Proposed Work Plan for 2002-2003
Project Activity |
Projected Timeline |
|
Development of
informational material |
July 1, 2002-October 1, 2002
|
|
Outreach and
informational presentations |
October 1, 2002-July
1, 2003
|
|
Follow-up information
technical |
October 1, 2002- July
1, 2003 |
b)
Relation to Other Local
and Regional Activities
Most schools and institutions of
higher education in economically distressed areas share the goal of
making students and parents more aware of financial aid programs.
Increasing this awareness promotes postsecondary education
attendance and stimulates economic development, However, most
economically distressed areas also lack sufficient resources, both
in terms of money and personnel, to increase parental awareness
about financial aid in a cost- and time-effective manner. Schools
are understaffed. Guidance counselors must contend with enormous
student-to-counselor ratios and a wide variety of other problems and
responsibilities while trying to keep up to date with the changes in
financial aid programs. Many institutions of higher education are
similarly understaffed, and their outreach to students and parents
is sporadic. WV-FAIR will supplement the activities of high schools
and institutions of higher education by providing focused service to
parents in targeted areas. WV-FAIR will work hand-in-hand with
guidance counselors, county school offices, and financial aid
offices at colleges and universities to reinforce the basic message
that there is financial aid available to assist parents in paying
for their child's postsecondary education. It is a message that can
not be repeated or reinforced too often.
WV-FAIR will also work closely with Governor Bob Wise as he
organizes his Financial Aid Forums during the fall and winter.
Governor Wise held these forums during his years as a Congressman,
and he is continuing them as Governor to demonstrate the importance
of understanding the financial aid process.
c) Geographic
Area
WV-FAIR will focus on those counties that are the most
economically distressed and educationally disadvantaged in the
state, because that is where the need for increased parental
awareness is greatest. The Appalachian Regional Commission defines
27 West Virginia counties as distressed, based on per capita income,
poverty rate, and unemployment rate. Since WV-FAIR is a pilot
project, it will not be large enough in its first year to cover all
27 counties. Therefore, this proposal focuses on the nine counties
with the greatest educational distress that are also defined as
economically distressed counties by the ARC: Calhoun, Clay, Mason,
McDowell, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Webster, and Wyoming Counties.
For the purposes of this project, educational distress status is
based on percentage of adults 25 or older with a bachelor's degree,
the college-going rate of high school graduates, and the percentage
of high school graduates applying for the State Higher Education
Grant Program.7 The concept of an "educational distress
index" is unique to this proposal, and offers a powerful tool for
strategically focusing the WV-FAIR Program efforts along both
economic and educational dimensions.
Chart 3. Educational Distress Index, by
county. |
