Over $111 Million in Financial Aid went unclaimed in Ohio in 2021: Getting Aid to Students Who Need It

Written by Yahya D. Waye

Last updated: Oct. 24, 2022 • 5 min read

The Disconnect

Students on making the transition from highschool to College have a lot of hurdles standing between them and a higher education. For many these hurdles seem impossible to overcome. Which makes it all the more concerning that so much financial aid is left on the table. So the question then becomes; where's the disconnect? If there's plenty of financial aid to go around, why does it seem that students are having such a difficult time accessing it? Well here are a few reasons why students across the country are missing out on what amounts to free money. (Before we get into it, I’d like to firstly state that though the Covid19 pandemic played a major role in the drop of students applying for financial aid over the past two years, there had been a small but noticeable decline in applications since 2016 with 2012 being most representative of what is considered typical.)

The Reality

The Department of Education found that the number of students completing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) in 2021 was only 45% of the graduating class with the majority of those who did not apply coming from low income households in black and latin neighborhoods. Nationally this trend is represented by the $3 billion in the title of this piece. In Ohio this presents itself as $111 million in unclaimed Pell Grants. The National College Access network launched a survey to dig deeper into the numbers to try and figure out why so few low income families were accessing financial aid they were given a rather harsh truth. Most of the respondents from low income homes simply had no knowledge whatsoever about student financial aid. They didn’t learn about Pell Grants or FAFSA in school; and due to the stagnating effects of becoming locked into intergenerational socio economic conditions, their parents were unaware of the financial aid as well.The FAFSA is a good option for students from financially precarious backgrounds as they do not have to be paid back like student loans and are free to apply for.

The fact is that the problem isn’t so much one of students ignoring or not taking the financial aid that's available. The problem is a lack of programs aimed at low income communities with the goal of educating students and their parents on the options that are available to them when considering how to finance their education. Most students are aware of scholarships and grants, in fact scholarships are the most well known form of financial aid amongst high school students. Though scholarships are well known amongst students they are often unapplied for as well with most students believing that they “wouldn’t qualify” for them. And many who do apply for scholarships only apply to one. More than half of all financial assistance comes from scholarships and scholarships can be broken down into different types as well. So we have FAFSA, scholarships, and grants. And there's even more ways to fund college and other forms of higher education. Work study programs where a student has part or the full cost of their education covered by an employer typically majoring in a field relevant to the workplace. All this to say there are many different ways to access funding for continuing your education.

Final Thoughts

Going to college can be life changing and lead to higher pay with more job satisfaction. But the truth is that there is a socio economic barrier to accessing education. We can partly alleviate this by helping to fund programs that focus on raising awareness for how to navigate not just the financial side of higher education; but also by bringing an appropriate and empathetic teaching philosophy that meets students where they’re at as people.