October 2024 IllinoisCAN Newsletter October 2024 Welcome to IllinoisCAN's monthly newsletter. The mission of IllinoisCAN is to improve postsecondary access and success for low-income and first-generation college students in Illinois. IllinoisCAN builds the capacity and effectiveness of college access organizations to help students reach their goals. IllinoisCAN monthly newsletters are intended to be for us and by us – professionals around the state working to improve college access. In this issue:
ISAC is pleased to continue sponsorship of the Family Action Network (FAN) events, which are always free and open to the public. FAN curates a high-quality speakers series presenting fresh ideas that elevate minds and expand hearts to help create an informed and compassionate community. The upcoming events sponsored by ISAC this month include:
ISAC College Access Symposium You are invited to register for ISAC's 2024 College Access Symposium, a one-day event for education professionals to learn how high schools and organizations across the state are supporting students to become postsecondary and career ready. Learn how financial aid plays a critical role in students' postsecondary success. We'll also share the latest news on the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) which is anticipated to be available to students and families on or before December 1, 2024. We hope you and your colleagues can join us from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at one of the three locations throughout the state:
Learn more and register today. Nominate Candidates for IllinoisCAN's Steering Committee IllinoisCAN seeks nominations for its Steering Committee to guide network growth and programming. The new Steering Committee members will serve a two-year term starting January 2025 and continuing through December 2026, and will meet virtually four times per year. To ensure the committee is geographically representative of the state, we are especially interested in receiving nominations from outside of the Chicagoland area. Please use the Illinois College Access Network (IllinoisCAN) Steering Committee Nomination Form to nominate yourself or others. Nominations are due by Saturday, November 30th. "Opportunities", Not Poverty Alone, Predict Later-Life Success for Children: Study Finds "Opportunity Gap" Between Rich and Poor Children Can Come Down to Just Six Missed Chances "Decades of research have shown that children who are born into low-income households have less access to opportunities like high-quality childcare and afterschool activities. Now, a 26-year longitudinal study has quantified the severity of this opportunity gap for the first time, as well as the sizable impact this has on children as they grow into young adults. "The new study, published by the American Educational Research Association, followed 814 children from low-, middle- and high-income families from birth through age 26, scrutinizing access to a spectrum of opportunities in childhood and adolescent years, including such factors as the instructional quality of classrooms, neighborhood income and participation in after-school activities like sports, music lessons and clubs. "Researchers found that while most high-income children experience six or more 'opportunities' between birth and high school, nearly two-thirds of children from low-income households have zero or only one opportunity. "In their report, the authors say this opportunity gap appears to be a more powerful predictor of future educational attainment and earnings than childhood poverty alone." The Hechinger Report article, "'Opportunities,' not poverty alone, predict later-life success for children" contains more information. Read about the Accumulation of Opportunities Predicts the Educational Attainment and Adulthood Earnings of Children Born into Low- Versus Higher-Income Households study. As Students Sought FAFSA Help, Four Million Calls Went Unanswered: A New Probe Details What Led to a Failed Rollout of the Financial Aid Form "High school seniors from lower-income families were the most likely to abandon their financial aid applications as the result of a delayed and continuously botched rollout of a new application form late last year. "That's one finding from a set of new reports from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office probing the U.S. Department of Education's failed rollout of what was supposed to be a simplified and streamlined Free Application for Federal Student Aid. "The reports detail the delays in the deployment of the new FAFSA as well as reduced testing of the new form before its eventual launch on Dec. 31, 2023 – three months after the form's typical release." Find out what led to a failed rollout of the financial aid form. A Supplemental Wealth-Based Pell Grant: How to Meet Unaddressed Need and Close Racial Gaps in Student Loan Borrowing "In a new collaborative report with The Institute for College Access and Success, researchers from the Higher Education, Race, and the Economy Lab at the University of California, Merced offer a policy solution: a supplemental Wealth-Based Pell Grant to help eliminate racial disparities in student loan borrowing and make debt-free college a reality for many more students. "The analysis suggests that implementing Wealth-Based Pell for students with family wealth under $500 could enable one million more full-time students – including nearly two-thirds of Black students – to attend college debt-free in their first year." Download the "A Supplemental Wealth-Based Pell Grant" report. Advancing Adequacy-Based Funding for Community Colleges in Illinois "Advancing Adequacy-Based Funding for Community Colleges in Illinois" dives deep into Illinois' disinvestment in its community colleges over the past three decades, uncovering damaging effects on our institutions, future economy, and students. As Illinois has decreased its higher education spending from 12.5% of its discretionary spending in 1991 to just 2.7% in 2022, community colleges have been least able to bring in other revenue. Instead, they've had to raise tuition, threatening their ability to serve students and causing enrollment to spiral over the last ten years. However, this report charts an alternate path of investment in higher education, using state data and extensive research to show the transformative potential of that funding." More College Students are Struggling to Get Enough Food. What Schools are Doing About It. "Research shows that college students are going hungry at a higher rate than the U.S. population as a whole. Some campuses are taking alternative approaches to tackling student hunger." Learn what Northern Illinois University is doing to address food insecurity among students. College Uncovered: The Rural Higher Education Blues "Rural young people who aspire to a higher education have long had fewer choices than their urban and suburban counterparts, contributing to far lower rates of college going. Now many of the universities that serve them are eliminating large numbers of programs and majors. "That means the already limited number of options available to rural students are being squeezed even further, forcing them to travel even greater distances to college than they already do or give up on it altogether." Read about the new attempts being made to help rural students who want to go to college. Do you have events, news, requests, or resources to share with college access colleagues? IllinoisCAN monthly newsletters are intended to be for us and by us – professionals around the state working to move college access forward. For inclusion in the next newsletter, send content by October 31st to ISAC.IllinoisCAN@illinois.gov. See the IllinoisCAN newsletter submission guidelines. Find us on Facebook:
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