Survey: Many Hoosiers unaware of state financial aid programs
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A new survey from Carmel-based INvestEd shows while nearly 90% of Hoosiers see value in postsecondary education, a majority find understanding the full process of paying for college to be difficult. The nonprofit polled more than 1,700 residents from rural, urban and suburban areas throughout the state, and more than half said they had not heard of at least one state scholarship program that could aid in paying for college.
“With these generous programs that Indiana offers, a lot of times the family either doesn’t know it exists, and if [they do], they often don’t know what has to be done to get that money,” said INvestEd Vice President of Marketing Bill Wozniak.
Wozniak discussed the survey results in an interview with Inside INdiana Business.
“Seventy-one percent are concerned about the reported average amount of $32,000 in debt that a college graduate in Indiana holds,” he said. “And so, you see the dilemma of, ‘Yes, education beyond high school is very valuable. Yes, it’s something I or we want.’ And then it’s, ‘But I’m nervous about the debt. I don’t really know how to go about this process.'”
Nearly 80% of respondents said they believe more Hoosiers might pursue education beyond high school if they knew they had a resource that could help them prepare to pay for college and limit student debt.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education last year said only 53% of students were pursuing college or other post-secondary training in 2020, a 6% drop from the previous year and 18% lower than 2015.
Wozniak said better marketing the availability of state programs and resources to help through the college funding process could help increase the number of students pursuing postsecondary education.
“Reaching out [and] repeating again and again about the availability of these dollars and these grants and these scholarships is a very important thing. Schools, educators, counselors, agencies really need to get that word out that these dollars are available,” he said. “And of course, there’s then resources available to help folks take those steps, but the first part is of course, making the awareness of the programs known.”
Wozniak said families who might be concerned that the net cost of going to college would be $20,000 might be more comfortable in exploring their options if they know what the real amount would be if they could take advantage of one or more available programs.
“When that is known, if you get a few more percent, you get a few 1,000 more that are interested in the process that can boost those [college-going] numbers up,” he said. “But people often don’t know where to look or where to go for that information.”
According to the survey, 73% of respondents also said companies in Indiana would be in a better position to attract and retain workers if they provided free access to resources that would allow employees and their families to prepare to pay for college and limit student debt.