By Catherine Brown, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy;Bill DeBaun, Senior Director of Data and Strategic Initiatives; Raymond AlQaisi, Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy; and Caroline Doglio, Program Associate
Reading time: Five minutes
Today, the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) is launching a new initiative to support members looking to deepen their impact on state higher education policy. A set of five state policy-focused working groups, comprised of NCAN members, will
meet regularly over the next eight months. Through these working groups, NCAN will connect members with tools, resources, and skills to change state policy. Activities will include:
State policy research, including proposals, legislation, and state rankings.
Support with policy and advocacy strategy, including help building a coalition and cultivating champions.
Tailored messaging tools, such as one-pagers, social media toolkits, and persuasive framing language.
A community of practice to discuss, debrief, and learn from experts in the field and your peers.
The five-state policy working groups will be focused on:
Implementing universal FAFSA.
Reforming state financial aid.
Expanding access to higher education for students who are undocumented.
Addressing food insecurity.
Accelerating college completion.
Members interested in participating should complete this form by November 23 and share a little bit about
why this group is of interest and what you hope to get out of the experience.
Doubling the Pell Grant and simplifying the FAFSA are critical to putting college within reach for students from low-income backgrounds, but NCAN members also know that state policy change is fundamental to building the world we envision where every student, regardless of background, can attain a college degree.
From providing financial aid to subsidizing public colleges to expanding food assistance, states are in
the driver’s seat on issues that pave the way to and through college for underserved students. To jump start our members’ state policy work, we are also releasing a new dashboard of state policy levers. This data-rich, expansive tool categorizes states along a continuum from “planning” to “established” on eight key levers associated with advancing career and college readiness. From universal
FAFSA to need-based financial aid, the dashboard shows how each state compares with the rest and where there is room for improvement. We hope it will be a valuable resource in identifying policy areas that our members want to work on and setting goals
to drive change.
These new working groups emerged from a report NCAN commissioned last year in
which members expressed their interest in working on state policy issues as well as recent conversations about
strategy with members immersed in state policy, and we are excited to put this strategy into practice.
Each working group will be co-facilitated by an expert in the subject and/or a member with experience advocating for state policy change
on this topic. The groups will meet every five weeks from December through July, roughly coinciding with most states’ legislative sessions.
The goal of this project is to lay the foundation for improving or defending state policies. That
could mean accomplishing a change administratively, introducing or advancing legislation, driving a budget increase, or fending off a policy change that would harm students. The goal will look different depending on the issue and the state, but we
are hoping that everyone who participants will have a concrete policy win or a clear path to achieving one by the end of the project.
Here is more detail about the groups and facilitators:
Implementing universal FAFSA: This group will focus on advancing or improving
state policies that require every graduating high school senior to complete the FAFSA as a means of increasing access to financial aid and growing the percentage of students going to college. Universal FAFSA policies have driven dramatic increases in FAFSA
completion rates in a diverse set of states. This group will be co-facilitated by Anika Van Eaton, Vice President of Policy at uAspire, Chandra Scott, CEO of Alabama Possible, and Raymond AlQaisi, Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy at NCAN. uAspire is working with states across the
country to implement universal FAFSA policies in a way that best supports students and helps them transition to college. In 2021, Alabama became the 4th state in the country to implement a universal FAFSA policy. The state has seen an
18% improvement in the completion rate since the policy was adopted.
Reforming state financial aid: States provide more than $12 billion in financial aid
annually, an amount that has almost doubled over the last two decades and through multiple economic recessions. Yet there are wide variations in how equitably these funds are distributed and significantly burdensome and unnecessarily complex processes
for accessing aid in many states. This group will be co-facilitated by Jim McHale, President and CEO of the Woodward Hines Foundation, and Bob Obrohta, Executive Director of Tennessee College Access & Success Network, both of whom have significant experience working to improve state financial aid programs, and Catherine Brown, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at NCAN.
Expanding access to higher education for students who are undocumented: Students who are undocumented
face significant obstacles in attaining a college degree and a widely varied state policy landscape. Some states, such as Texas and Minnesota, provide comprehensive
access while others expressly prohibit students who are undocumented from attending college. Others have no state policy at all. Even in states with comprehensive access, students’ careers can be limited if the licensing and credentialing systems
aren’t aligned with the state’s higher education policies. This working group will be facilitated by Miriam Feldblum, Executive Director of the Presidents’
Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Christian Penichet-Paul, Director of the Higher Education Immigration Portal and State Policy, who are national
experts in immigration and higher education policy, and Raymond AlQaisi with NCAN.
Addressing food insecurity: According to research by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, one in three college students experience food insecurity, but only a fraction receive SNAP due to the tight eligibility rules for college students. States like
California have tackled this problem by streamlining their application process, improving outreach and communication,
and more. This group will by facilitated by Alex Zucco, State and Federal Policy Manager with the California Student Aid Commission, Neeta Sonalkar, Director of Higher Education
Innovation with Benefits Data Trust, and Catherine Brown with NCAN. Zucco is deeply involved in California’s ongoing efforts to improve access to SNAP for college students, while Sonalkar is developing
a toolkit for states, announced by the White House in September, to help higher education institutions identify students who are likely eligible for SNAP and other federal benefits.
Accelerating college completion: While
the high school graduation rate has steadily grown for most of the last two decades, the college graduation rate has remained stagnant, with persistent gaps by race, ethnicity, and income. This group will discuss evidence-based strategies to increasing
college persistence and completion, ranging from mentoring and comprehensive services to data systems and targeted scholarships. This group will facilitated by Trent Ball,
Senior Director of Postsecondary Equity and Attainment at Missouri College & Career Attainment Network, former Associate Provost, Associate Vice President for Equity and Access at Southeast Missouri State University, and board chair of the Council
for Opportunity in Education, and Alex Mayer, Director of Postsecondary Success at MDRC, and Catherine Brown with NCAN. Mayer leads MDRC’s higher education research and evaluation
efforts and conducts outreach with policymakers and other stakeholders.
Remember that if you are interested in participating in one of these working groups, please complete this form by November 23 and share a little bit about why this group is of interest and what you hope to get out of the experience. We look forward to working with you and driving policy change together!
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