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Committee Report: WASFAA College Access and Affordability Task Force
by Task Force Chair Mike Johnson,
Pacific University
Research conducted by the American Council on Education
and other groups indicates that there is widespread misunderstanding
among families concerning both the cost of postsecondary
education and the availability of financial assistance in
meeting that cost. In general, many prospective students and
their families overestimate the former and underestimate the
latter, which leads them to assume that postsecondary education
is probably unattainable.
The WASFAA College Access and Affordability Task Force,
envisioned and begun in 1999-2000 under Julie Yeager Arthur's
leadership, hopes to provide information and tools that will
help WASFAA members begin to alter public misconceptions.
The task force will research, collect, synthesize, and make available
to WASFAA members information on how to communicate
the affordability and attainability of postsecondary
education to prospective students and their families for whom
college is five to fifteen years in the future. Families at this stage
have critical decisions about college attendance to make - and
planning time ahead in which to make them well if they have
accurate information.
Some ideas for possible task force activities include:
- Creating a PowerPoint presentation and accompanying
booklet on postsecondary costs and financial aid availability
that members can use when discussing these topics with middle
school students and their families,
- Providing an annotated bibliography of books, articles, websites,
and other information on postsecondary costs and financial
aid availability that members can provide to prospective
students and their families,
- Developing a booklet for members describing potential investments
families may wish to consider depending on how
many years remain in which to save for postsecondary education,
and
- Making presentations at state conferences concerning how to
provide information on the affordability of postsecondary education
to middle school and junior high school students and
their families.
If you would be interested in serving on the WASFAA College
Access and Affordability Task Force, if you would like additional
information about it, or if you have ideas that you would
like to share, please contact me at (503) 359-2871, at john-song@pacificu.edu or at address listed below. I hope to work
with the executive council to select task force members this
summer, have a kick-off meeting in the fall to plan our activities,
then have members work independently or in small groups
to develop materials, make presentations, and provide information
to WASFAA members over the next several months.
Mike Johnson
Director of Financial Aid
Pacific University
2043 College Way
Forest Grove, Oregon 97116
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