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Grant programs don’t reflect needsBv JUDY MANNTwenty-two years ago. Sarah Harder was a single mother with two children and no child support With the help of her parents, who agreed to sustain her and her two children while she completed college, she returned to the university of Wisconsin in LaCrosse. and obtained degrees in English and historvTodav. she is an administrator at thew ”■University of Wisconsin in Eau ClairewShe is also the president of the American Association of University WomenAs an administrator, Ms Harder has developed programs to help older women return to college and she has seen firsthand how current student loan regulations do not reflect the needs of non-traditional students — students who do not have familieshelping them through school, but rather, have families whoaredependent on them Ms Harder went on to graduate school, remarried and had two more children Her first activities outside the classroom, she says, were informal activities helping women return * to school). Later, I moved into an administrative role, helping women return, putting together the combination of child care and financial aid which I knew was particularly critical to women returning to complete their educations ”CommentAnd now. the AAUW. under her leadership, has developed a series of legislative proposals to do just that They were recently introduced in the House of Representatives as the Student Financial Aid Equity Act of1985 and will be offered as amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1985. which is up for review this year Primary sponsors are Heps Pal Williams. D-Mont ; Claudine Schneider R-R I ; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.. and Timothy Penny, D-MinnThe college population has changed dramatically in the 20 years since thatact was passed, when the typical student was an 18- to 22-year-old’white male, living in a dorm According to statistics assembled by the AAUW, more than half of the nation’s 12 4 million college students are women In 1983, there were 1.5 million post-secondary students over the age of 34 88 percent of whom were women Four-fifths of this group attendschool part time, and women are more likely to be part-time students than are menAs part-time students, many are ineligible for the most popular forms of federal student grants and loans In 1984 31 percent of the women entering the freshman class came from families with incomes of less than $20,000, compared to 26 percent of the menKristin Stelck, public policy associate and lobby ist for the AAUW ays the combination of inflation and rising costs of tuition make student aid if vital importance to women and theirfamilies“It’s not good enough to just fund the programs as they exist.” she says ‘Right now . we need to evaluate w ho is getting the money and ensure that it’s fairly distributed, and that the policies treat men and women fairly. The reason we think they don’t is that they were designed with the traditional student in mind ”Changes being proposed would make students going to school less than half time eligible for aid on a pro-rated basis Thus, a woman holding a job. and perhaps caring for children or an elderly parent, could get some federal financial loans while taking less than six credits, which may be all she can manageAnother change would require financial aid officers to count child care and transportation — olderwomen with children don’t live indorms — into the cost of a student’s college attendance, along with books, lab fees and similar expensesA new provision, accepted last weekdarv educationoy the House pust-seco subcommittee, would allow a student who drops out of school to care for a new baby to defer loan repayment for up to six months Presently, if a student drops out of school, loan repayment can be deferred only for illness, injury, military service or joining the Peace Corps The new clause was triggered by the recent case of a Wisconsin mother whose request for deferment was turned down by the Department of EducationThe bill would also help students on welfare who are currently caught in a Catch-22 situation when financial aid is frequently counted as income and can make (hem ineligible for medical, nutritional or welfare aid Only 2 percent of the parents receiving Aid to Families With Dependent Children attend post-secondary school, according to the AAUWOlder women students going back to college have fewer resources and more family responsibilities than the traditional student Like Sarah Har der they want to make an investment in themselves that will eventually help their families A society that recognizes this and helps them does nothing but help itself
Newspaper Details
Herkimer Evening Telegram
Herkimer, New York, US
Mon, Oct 28, 1985
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 21 Oct 2019
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