MEFA Institute: Supporting First-Gen Students

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Julie Shields-Rutyna: [00:00:00] Well, good afternoon and welcome to this MIFA webinar getting first generation students to the end or as I prefer to call it, um, the name which came from our, our panelists is getting first gen to the end. So, um, thank you for being here today. Let me go through. My name is Julie Shields Rutina and I'm the director of college planning, education and training at MIFA.

And let me just go through a few logistics. Um, if If you would like to ask a question during this webinar, please put your question in the Q and A and I'll monitor that and I'll pose those questions to our panelists. And then if you would like live transcript, just press the CC button and you'll be able to see the words that we're speaking on the screen.

And we are recording this, so we will be sending a copy of the recording and the slides to [00:01:00] you tomorrow. So if you need to leave, feel free to do that. To do that. Also, let me introduce our terrific presenters. You're really going to enjoy this today. Jerome Tucker, and he is at the University of Connecticut, and Natalie Wong, who is at Salve Regina University, and they can tell you a little bit more about themselves.

And with that, I am going to turn it over, um, and. Here we go.

Jaron Tucker: Thanks, Julie. Appreciate it. Um, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. My name is Jerome Tucker. I currently work at the University of Connecticut. I've been in financial aid, a total of almost nine years now. I am a former first generation student. low income first generation student to be exact. Um, and so naturally this has always been a passion project of mine.

My goal through higher ed, navigating through all the [00:02:00] enrollment management systems, working at registrar, working at bursar, and then finally settling in financial aid. I wanted to make sure that I was able to kind of learn the information that I didn't have privy to me before, um, beginning my degree, um, program.

Um, and so naturally I've been putting in the work and time and effort to figure out ways that I can make that information be accessible for other people who are also first gen students, um, and then I'll turn it over for Natalie to give her some background.

Natalie Wong: So I am Natalie Wong. I work at South Bay Regina University.

I've been in financial aid for about six years now. I was also a first generation college student. My experience was a little different. I wasn't a low income first generation student, but my dad immigrated into this country. So I had a different experience in parents that were not familiar with one like the American college system.

And that was very new to them. Um, and then also, um, just, you know, [00:03:00] navigating it when they had a lot of resources, but I didn't know how to ask, even though my school offered because I was nervous because I had, like I said, I had parents that didn't go to college and most of my peers did have that, that parental support.

And I was like, nervous to ask. So I feel like just making students comfortable and asking questions and finding the resources they need to get the help so they can be successful. Um, so yeah, at Salve, we've implemented a lot of, new things, which I'm excited to share with you. Um, and hopefully you can share with others to do similar, um, initiatives.

Jaron Tucker: So today, um, we'll go through the definition of what is a first generation college student and how that's defined. We'll go around the variants that exist within the population. So the different type of students that fall within those categories. Um, the issue students face before and after acceptance to the college or university they attend, the hurdles they may encounter during their journey to graduation, and [00:04:00] most importantly, how we can support the first gen to ensure that they are armed with the tools to survive and thrive, as I like to say.

Alright, so starting With the definition of a first generation student, by definition, a first gen student is a student born to parents who have not graduated college. So a good example is this means a student whose parent attended college for three years but did not graduate, they would technically be considered a first gen student.

Something else I want to highlight because this was asked before when we did this presentation. Technically, a student who has parents who graduated from a. outside of the U. S. territory, like a international student, for example. If they, if they have a parent who graduated from a college that was outside the U.

S., they are technically not a first gen student, but they still kind of might need the information shared with them in a certain way, just because they don't have that reference point that would come with [00:05:00] someone who is familiar with the American college process and the aid process overall. So I just wanted to make sure that we highlighted that.

Next slide. So now we'll talk about the population and then different students that fall within and how we classify them. Alright, so here is student group one, we have parents who have no college experience at all. Parents who are documented immigrants and have no US college experience and students who have not been part of a college writing this program.

Student group two is a parent who went to college but did not graduate. A student who has a family member outside their immediate household that attended or graduated from a US college and a student who may have participated in the college prep program out of the groups. I said this group would have at least the most reference information that they could [00:06:00] possibly have because they are involved in programs that will help kind of give them the details and stuff that they need to be successful when going into college.

They have those reference points so they can talk to a cousin or uncle or someone in the family about what that college experience was like from them. They are still considered first gen, but I just wanted to classify that they might have the most information available to them than the ones. Outside of student group one, and then also student group three, um, student group three are eligible non citizens.

So this includes refugees, students who are granted asylum, Cuban, Haitian, immigrants, conditional entrance, and offering war to the courts. I'm sorry, not all from one of course that's not a part of that. You have those are all eligible non citizens, and then you have parents who may be undocumented immigrants so students who have parents who may be undocumented immigrants, and then you have those [00:07:00] dependency override situations, which could be for a variety of things that.

We can talk about later, but that is a challenging group because there's going, the aid process for this particular group of students is going to look drastically different than the aid process for some years in student group one, right? So there's going to be a lot more paperwork involved. There's probably going to be a lot more, um, conversations that need to be had in order for you to fund these students.

Um, and that includes the students who are also orphans were the court, um, as there is a additional documentation. So I always say that students. And group one and three probably need the most information with student group three being the more intense because there's a lot more paperwork that you don't necessarily have as frequently.

So aid administrators, for example, would need to prepare themselves for it if they're not experienced with dealing with it and reading up on the regs on how to properly document that and communicating it for the students. [00:08:00] And then the last student group is four. So this is students who are DACA as well as international students.

Um, and these are the students who don't have federal aid eligibility. Um, but institutionally you may have help and support that you can provide. So a lot of schools will sometimes have their own institutional aid applications. Um, I've seen a lot. A lot of a few schools now have developed their own institutional applications to be able to try to capture information for these student groups, to see what they could potentially offer to help support them.

And so I would say for any. Any high school counselors that are on here that are looking to support those students. I think it's important to make sure that, you know, if you're having these conversations with them and they're talking about the colleges that they're attending, that if you are supporting them helping them figure out information that might be, you know, prevalent to them because sometimes the information might not be always easy to find.

So you'll [00:09:00] probably want to also try to do that research to help guide the students as well.

Okay, now we'll talk about the issues at hand. Um, so there is always a, a, a ton of contributing factors. Um, but for the, some of the main reason why first generation students end up leaving school without a degree are for the following reasons. So we have financial burdens. So many have taken out a large student loan to pay for school or have a job throughout their college career.

After all, it's not just tuition to worry about. There are textbooks, housing, bills, food, laptops, and some have kids and family to care for as well. It can be really difficult to navigate a new environment while working and trying to keep up with academics. It's not uncommon for lower income first generation students to drop out because the cost is just too great.

And if they drop out, they end up with the added financial burden [00:10:00] saddle with the heavy debt and no benefit. So low income first generation students have a greater risk when it comes to failure in that sense. Um, so you're thinking about, The low income households the affordability as well as the dependency on funds.

So, if you have someone that is looking to go to a school that may not be able to meet full financial need for an example, you know there's going to have to be some planning that they'll have to have in place to ensure that they can. complete the degree, um, and have the, and make sure that they secure the resources to do so, and then go into schools that meet full need, understanding what that means, because it looks different at, um, a lot of different schools.

Some schools will say you meet full, they meet full financial need, and it might include, that might include what the loans are, and then after your loans are awarded, we'll cover that, and others will say, It's before loan. So understanding what meaningful financial need from the different schools will also be [00:11:00] helpful in trying to understand what potential financial burden that could be.

Another issue is the lack of support. So all school systems and districts are not created equally. Um, there are certain opportunities that might exist in some districts while it might not be present in all districts. So I would say student first generation students sometimes don't usually have a parent or family member to help them navigate the college system.

So this puts them at a disadvantage before they even again begin applying to college so which is an increasingly involved and competitive process in and of itself, and not everyone has. A great high school counselor who can help first generation students are often left on their own to research schools and fills the study, fill out applications, apply for financial aid, secure housing, and register for classes.

When they are uncertain about a step in the process, they are more likely to put it off because they may not know or who and how to ask. With strict deadlines, this puts them [00:12:00] under a ton of, a lot of pressure. Um, and so oftentimes that that could. You know, really be the breaking point or sometimes be one of the biggest hurdles that you can even overcome to get to that stage of when you even get to a school because you're, you have all these steps getting up leading up to applying to college that sometimes that that can sometimes be insurmountable if you don't have the right support in place for that.

And so, and that ties into my inequitable access to resources. Like I said, not. Every district has the same amount of resources as other schools. So the first generation student population, depending on where they're coming from and what they might not have had some of the great support systems. I know that speaking from my experience, when I was in high school, I had a guidance counselor that really only saw us.

If we came to the office, there wasn't a lot of outreach done and that was because she it was she was one of four counselors in our school had [00:13:00] like three to 4000 students. So, um, You know, it was you had to go and make take advantage of resource but I didn't know that that existed until I asked a friend, like what are they planning to do for college and luckily I was attending the college readiness program that helped me get to that point where I could say okay well I'm not getting in support of school, but I can go to this college readiness program that's going to at least help me figure out those ins and outs.

Um, and the last issue at hand is life. Which is a common factor for everyone, but it comes at you fast and personalities, personal and family history impact the way everyone handles hurdles that life may throw their way. You also think about some of the things that happens when you get to a college campus, for example, it can be an unfamiliar territory.

And so, At orientation, students receive a lot of information that's designed to guide them through their first semester, but [00:14:00] sometimes that communication can be filled with jargon and acronyms and email addresses and URLs for all the different student services. And at times that's an information overload, especially if you're hoping that some of that information sticks with the students.

It's a lot to digest in one sentence, especially when you're still just, like, happy with the thought that, like, I'm vegan in college, so, you know, a lot of this stuff can sometimes be overwhelming, um, but when school starts, it may be still unclear for who they may contact, even though it might have been out on an orientation if they didn't take notes or they didn't go through a full handbook, um, so that's why it's really important to kind of make sure that you're up Using communication as if you're talking to someone who has not ever heard of this before, which in the financial aid community, you know, you kind of go through these seasonal flows where you're just kind of used to that information, giving it to students night in and night out.

And sometimes You can lose [00:15:00] sight of the fact like yeah, I have to change the tone and like maybe have to explain this a little bit more detail because realizing that I may have been doing this for eight or nine years like this is the students first time so remembering how I had to learn in the beginning, like I have to talk to the students in ways that I am teaching, as opposed to just explaining that if you kind of understand what I mean by that.

Next slide, Julie.

Natalie Wong: So I, this slide is a graph to show you our students concerned about paying monthly expenses while in school. And you can see some of the statistics that in first generation students, it's much higher that they're stressed out than a non first gen. So it's just important to acknowledge that the statistical data does match that this population is more vulnerable to being stressed and needing maybe a More encouragement or extra resources in order them in order for them to be successful to get to the end.

They will [00:16:00] need that little bit of extra push and motivation and knowledge.

Jaron Tucker: One of the things that we also wanted to highlight was the default rates that existed for students, low income, first generation college students fare the worst in terms of loan repayment. And, you know, this is prevalent because Schools can lose federal loan eligibility if their student loan default rate is over 30 percent for a three year period.

Um, and so we wanted to highlight this statistic just because it showcased, and it has improved since then. So like, I would say that this, at the time that was created was the most recent information we had. Um, But ultimately, it's still something that students are struggling with, um, because ultimately, if you're going to school and you've encountered some of the issues at hand, this is naturally going to cause you to default on a loan if you end up going to school and then taking out a huge amount [00:17:00] of loan debt, but you don't end up getting a degree to lead to a job that pays well enough for you to pay that loan back.

And then you end up in a situation where you're not able to repay and then you end up in default. Um, and so Hope and where these are some of the driving factors that Lisa's education and we wanted to address how this particular statistic could ultimately influence some of the things that we will talk about later when it comes to the hurdles.

And how we can avoid students falling into this whole of leaving end up leaving college without a degree.

And here's just some more statistics on the default rates. Um, Starting here, 91. 8 percent of all student loans come from the federal government. Um, naturally there's been a huge push in student loan forgiveness. Um, I just want to make sure that people are mindful. I, I feel like there was a, there was a large surge of [00:18:00] students thinking, Oh, I can take loans.

Like they're going to be forgiven since it's been a discussion, but it's always been a discussion before. And it's not, It's never it's not I won't say it's never going to happen, but there's a lot of statistics show that it's going to be really hard for it to ever become a thing so if students are borrowing with the anticipation that like it's just going to be forgiven outside of doing stuff like the public service loan forgiveness program.

I just want to say like. Make sure that that's not a narrative in their head that they'll think, Oh, well, I can borrow and then I just know it's going to be forgiven because that is a very dangerous game to play. And it's not a guarantee that will always happen unless you're in one of those loan forgiveness programs.

And so, I just wanted to have the statistics there for you, reference on the slide so therefore you can see some of the information that drove us to create in this presentation. And default rates is one of the biggest driving forces. Next slide, Julie.[00:19:00]

All right, so now we'll talk about some of the hurdles that students face before acceptance and then after acceptance. Okay, so starting off with the financial hurdles application fees is always one of the top ones. There are fee waivers for. A lot of things and depending on the school or the type of application students are completing, um, that will dictate whether or not they'll be able to find something that they could afford.

Fee waivers are always a thing, um, but this year in particular with deposit deadlines, um, it has added another layer of chaos to higher ed, just because you have schools that are, that had to move deposit deadlines. Not everyone is on the same deposit deadline as May 1st, as it once has been. You have some that's May 1st, May 15th, and June 1st, um, in some cases.

So that has naturally caused a lot more, um, chaos amongst [00:20:00] families because they're going up against different deadlines and trying to figure out financial situations. Um, and so next year we hope that that isn't the case. But, you know, these hurdles as far as like a process literacy, um, something that Justin Drager pointed out, um, at Eastfolk was the narrative of, you know, the sticker price versus the net price at colleges, right?

People get hung up on what they see as the sticker price because that's kind of always the thing that people go to like what's the cost of attendance at this university and not really understanding that the sticker price is a sticker price but there's actually a net price that you actually have to pay and so.

Even in these public platforms like that is also a narrative that has been created in social media is like, oh, the cost of education is this expensive, but not really understand that there are schools, a lot of schools that are not going to cost certain families that amount of money. So, you know, a process literacy.

As far [00:21:00] as net price calculators, the financial literacy around the aid process and like what you qualify for when you complete certain applications, if you have priority filing deadlines. These are things that people would need to be armed with to ensure that they know what potential financial hurdles might exist before getting to a school.

And then the personal hurdles that exist is selecting the right school for you. Some students can have an idea of what school they think is going to be best and then, you know, never look that far ahead to see, like, oh, how much would this school actually cost me? Because you could have had a dream of going to one school and be like, financially, this might not be something that I can actually afford.

Um, and so selecting the right school for your fit for your degree program, as well as your affordability is a huge thing that you do have to consider. And that sometimes is a very challenging process because, you know, you have to look at a bunch of things that you weren't even familiar with, or at least thought you [00:22:00] had to think of by the time you get to this process of picking what school you're going to go to, um, and the competing responsibilities, naturally, you're, if you're in a last year high school, you're dealing with.

exams, you're doing your final year of classes, you also might be working. So like you have all these additional things that might be taking away from your time of doing this research for school, um, and figuring out what you can, what you can and can't afford. Um, and then you throw in the complexity that exists when you are also now having your parents and needing that information from them and like trying to navigate all of those with them.

Deadlines and availability. Um, and so those are things. And then parental approval. I don't, there's, there are many families who have it in their mind that their kid is going to go to a certain school. And in some cases, they might not be approving of the school that they want to. And because they, hold the keys in a way because they [00:23:00] need to, you know, help the students complete their FAFSA with their financial information.

There are some, there are some families that will use that as leverage tool. It's an unfortunate thing, but it is something that they also have to sometimes handle it. Sometimes they're going to be like, yeah, I don't want to have to take this amount of debt. The school doesn't give you enough aid. That I feel comfortable with borrowing this amount of money for this program.

Right. So I'm not going to support you going to that school. Let's go to the school that gives a little bit more aid and I don't have to pay as much as a pocket or take a parent plus loan and things of that nature. And then the final is the application guidelines and acronyms, right? Like it is financially, it is a world of acronyms.

COA is one of the major ones. Most people know that's a cost of attendance thing. But, you know, you start getting into some of the jargon not knowing, right? The sticker price and the NPC, like the net price calculator, [00:24:00] as I mentioned, There's a lot SAP sat, which we'll talk about, like there's a lot of things and acronyms that sometimes get lost.

And so, you know, those things can be a deterrent, um, a deterrent factor for students. So you wanna try to stay clear of having any, like acronyms or at least having a good. way for students to identify like an acronym guide. So therefore it's much more easy for them to understand if you're a school that uses a lot of acronyms or if you're a school counselor helping trying to help the students figure out how to navigate this or getting an understanding of what these acronyms mean.

Oh, I don't know. Did you go to

Natalie Wong: work?

Jaron Tucker: Okay. Okay. Um, and then the hurdles after acceptance. So these mostly focus on the things that can impact the students financial aid eligibility, um, going forward. [00:25:00] R2T4 is the return to Title IV calculation. Um, so for the school counselors on there, you might be familiar with this, but um, essentially if a student withdraws from a class and they complete less than 60 percent of the term, there's a, the R2T4 may generate something that's going to cause them to have a balance.

So like if you're a school that does auto refunds or You're, you're really worried about this type of thing because there's really not a lot of safe havens you can put in place to prevent this. If you, if you have, then salute to you. But these R2T4s tend to always be one of the more problematic things and students not really understanding that like, hey, you can't just drop all your classes.

You know, it comes with some type of consequences. So having some literacy around the R2T4 process and like its impact. I know we, as Financial aid administrators, like we don't really want to tell people that 60 percent is a completion precision and you'll be okay. [00:26:00] But um, I think it's just important for students to have more context around that.

And this is, this is always what I consider the dark side of financial aid. Like it's, it's not the pretty stuff. Like no one really wants to have to do these things, but these are regulations we have to follow. And because it's not the pretty stuff, I feel like it oftentimes doesn't get the light So.

Thanks. Show shine on it that it deserves because these are the major things that can disrupt any person's academic program. Um, and talking about R2 T4 is leads right into SAP. So not having not meeting satisfactory academic progress. Um, for undergrad students is still like 67 percent you have to pass at least 67 percent in your classes, um, and maintain that 2.

0 GPA average. And so if you're not meeting that routinely. They, that also leads to academic probation the term in which that ends up getting assessed. And if you don't end up doing well on that. [00:27:00] In that situation, then you can end up losing your financial aid, um, academic probation is now being changed to academic notice, um, and some get and a lot of schools now so if you hear academic notice they're most likely also referring to the term academic probation.

And an unusual enrollment. I'm hoping that that's not something too many people will encounter, but I think it's important to highlight here because, for example, if a student just saps out at one school, for example, and because they're not meaning sap there, or they didn't get a SAP appeal approved, which is also something that I think I want to highlight, take the moment to highlight that, like If you're not meeting SAP, there is still ways for students to continue receiving financial aid.

Um, it is an appeal process. You essentially will have to explain, you know, why it was that you weren't as successful in the courses as you planned and what's your plan going forward to be able to achieve that. So for the school counselors on here, if that ever ends up being a [00:28:00] conversation that you have with any of the students that you're supporting.

Um, if there, if that comes up, like, just know that that's not the end of the road for them. And there is a way to regain that, um, and get back in good standing. Um, and, but I bring up the unusual enrollment because essentially if you attend two or three more schools, um, within, I believe it's still four year, Um, for academic year period, you get flagged for this, for this, which will cause you to still have to do an appeal to be able to get aid at another school.

So before this was in place, it was essentially something that people were able to do in the feds. Implemented this to prevent students from what they call Pell jumper. So people that would just end up jumping from school to school and taking out Pell money and not actually earning a degree. So I think it's just, it's important for students to be aware that like, Hey, if you don't do well at one school and then you just choose, I'm going to go to another one, like it will come in time where that will come back to bite you.

And you would need to be [00:29:00] prepared if you do have some unusual circumstances that caused you to have to do that. Um, And so I just wanted to make sure that that gets a little bit of light. It's not as major of a problem with the first gen students coming in because naturally they're coming from a blank canvas as far as college experience, but something to be mindful of if they encounter some of these hurdles on the way.

And then the change in circumstances are naturally if there's a projected Um, SAI, or if you have it, if you're using institutional application, if the financial picture for some of the families is drastically different than what was reported on the time that they completed the fast for, um, or CSS profile.

There are things that you can do in order to see if you qualify for more aid. So a lot of schools have process have processes in place. It could be considered a change of circumstance, which allows administrators to do something that's called a professional [00:30:00] judgment where evaluate the family's financial picture in order to see if It qualifies for an adjustment of their student aid index or in their, their institutional EFC that they had.

And so therefore students are feeling like oh well I just, you know, my parents lost the position. And so this year we don't actually have the amount of money to contribute what they're saying that I'm able to contribute to my education. There are avenues for them to pursue other opportunities to get their aid change.

So. Knowing that is really important, because they'll just think, Oh, well, I can't go to that school now, because I don't really, my parents don't have the money that was mentioned on the FAFSA. Um, and so that's always important to know that there are other options for you. Um, and then the personal hurdles that exist, one, filling out a place for students who are going away.

Um, and going to a new university or college, [00:31:00] uh, especially if it's in a new state, um, sometimes you have that feeling of like, do I actually fit here? Um, and that ties into being homesick and lacking community. And that could look different in a variety of ways, but ultimately, if you are feeling like. I don't know if this is for me or like feeling like you're missing an element that you really need in order to be successful naturally that has a mental toll, takes a mental toll on you.

And so therefore, you'll be looking to try to gain that in some way and sometimes that could be the reason why someone ends up saying that this just isn't for me. And then the degree change of heart is what a student can say, you know what, I want to do psychology. And then they start doing the program, let's say two years and they're like, I don't know if this is really for me.

Um, then you kind of like that change, depending on the change that you're doing, the classes that you [00:32:00] took, some might be able to be applied to your new degree program of choice and some may not. So it's important for them to really know like. To know early, I would say. Figure out the degree program that you really want to do.

I think most of the time students will start with liberal arts and that's, that's a good way for people to figure out what they are, what they want to do because naturally that allows you a little bit more flexibility in the course you take. And then some of those courses end up applying to other degree programs because it's a lot of general courses in there.

Um, But that is also something that is very important for students to know, um, you know, that degree change of heart can impact you because like you're now, let's say you did three years in one program, and you're getting close to the point where like, could Pell support you for three, for three additional years?

It's likely not. So you don't really want to end up making some of these decisions without knowing what the [00:33:00] ramifications are long term. So, um, Having that information outline for students is something that's really helpful, um, because we know as financial aid administrators, we oftentimes are going to always be the ones that they run to, and then we're hoping that our academic advisement come part.

Compadres are able to help support them and give them the information they need, but the stuff that may happen with them could also lead to stuff that we might not be able to assist them with. And sometimes those conversations end up happening a little too late because we're not going to be aware of some of those changes in the same way.

Um, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later.

Natalie Wong: So as Jerome mentioned, all those hurdles, it's who are the students seeking out for advice to kind of combat or get resources or advice on how to prevent them or how to get over those hurdles. So as you can see, like I said, a lot of students don't talk to [00:34:00] anyone.

Um, and the second most likely person they are to go to our financial aid advisors, which is great because they can help them with so many processes in order to get them back on track. Followed by academic advisors and then faculty members and then there's a small other portion as well. But again, I think a big thing is working with your college campus to encourage students to reach out when they are seeking help and making sure they know who they are.

Where they can find the resources they need to get back on track.

So these are some practical ways how you can start to support the journey of your first year students. Um, a lot of these that I will reference take place more at the college level, but I can also reference some suggestions if you're in the high school level right now. But the very first one in terms of financial aid offices, when helping first generation students is to really review your financial aid offer letter that your university is sending out.

This piece of paper is so [00:35:00] crucial because it's kind of giving them the road map to how they're going to finance their education. Um, a lot of legislation work is actually being highlighted with the transparency of the cost of college. Um, there's a group right now called the College Cost Initiative Act.

I believe that's the term. Um, So what we're talking about here is, um, pushing colleges to just be transparent on what the price is and making sure that they're addressing all the major cost points of the institution. So part of that is that you should have your cost of attendance on your offer letter.

Um, you should have what the net cost of your university is going to cost, but also what your cost of attendance minus the financial aid. So not what you're directly going to have to pay the institution, but a family, what a family wants to think about when they're budgeting for the entire year. So taking in all those.

Indirect costs, such as books and supplies, transportation and things of that sort. Um, and then making sure that you're really explaining the different aspects of financial aid. Um, one really popular thing that I've seen a [00:36:00] lot of institutions do now is breaking out what's free money versus what's loans versus what's federal work study.

Free money is something the student won't need to pay back. Loans is something the student will have to repay and then work study, which is sometimes confused. It's eligibility really on a letter. It's not like they're ever going to see that amount that they have to earn it and get a job. So it's really important that schools are on the same page with making sure These offers are easy to understand.

Um, and like, of course you want them to look similar so that people don't get confused because a lot of times when they're looking so different, you don't know what is what, but I think with a lot of these initiatives coming into the financial aid community, the offer letter will really. Be more unified and that will help especially first generation students understand that financing piece Um as jerome mentioned satisfactory academic progress is something to be aware of at any level But one way you can kind of [00:37:00] encourage first generation students is to really look at the language you're using SAP can come off very intimidating because it's telling the student that they might lose all federal aid, which they probably need, obviously, to be successfully to be successful in financing their college journey.

So using language like we understand that the journey can be difficult. You are in this situation, but then providing solutions on how can you help them get out of it. So talk about how they can appeal. Bring them to resources, work with the academic team with that language piece and like what resources that the student can go do to get out of the SAP position.

Um, other things that both high schools and colleges can do is just send friendly reminders about major deadlines. So major FAFSA deadlines. Um, in the past, like the deposit deadline of May 1st was common for a lot of institutions. It's a little wonky this year. Um, but again, just giving those extra steps of encouragement along the [00:38:00] way using communications.

And it's important to send these communications to students and families. Um, I think with first generation, you're working with the whole family because it's a new experience for everyone. So sometimes maybe it's good to have student specific, but then also parent specific. Communications, um, and events so that they can also learn, um, in the journey along with the students.

So everyone can be on the same page. When working in like a college, you're working with so many different offices, the business office, the registrar, and then financial aid. You want to make sure that you have cohesive language you're using, especially when it comes to things like SAP. Um, at my institution, you can be on academic probation, but not necessarily SAP.

And we've tried to have made that more cohesive. So students don't get confused, um, that they are two separate processes, but they do, we do work together. Um, so always keeping language common. And then to the bigger point of withdrawing. And what does that mean? A student can withdraw from the university at any time.

But [00:39:00] sometimes if the university has like a checklist of offices, the student may want to visit prior to withdrawing or dropping a class. This will give them the tools that they need to make sure they're making the right decision for them. Because if it is a financial concern, but our office doesn't know about it, how can we help them?

So we create this checklist so that they, um, and check in in those offices that can maybe help them get back on track and maybe they don't have to withdraw at all and can stay, um, and continue their education with the help of the university. Another really important thing you can do to help support first generation family is host a FAFSA workshop day within your high school or even, um, at the college level we do this.

I know a lot of high schools don't have the resources necessarily to do it themselves, but there are so many great organizations like MIFA, like the state associations, um, In the state of Rhode Island, we have Riaspa in Massachusetts. It's Maspa where you can reach out to them and sometimes they can send [00:40:00] presenters, um, to cover topics.

Like I know in Rhode Island, we have a whole committee and high schools contact us, and then we send financial aid administrators to host. And things of that sort. So really taking advantage of the tools that you have around you to bring into your school, even though you don't maybe necessarily budgetarily have that these are some free resources that are available.

So really taking those opportunities to bring into your schools. Um, And then again, just presenting those helpful financial aid reminders. This occurs to both new students and returning. I always like to say, like, the process is four years, it's not just the first year. Um, and sometimes when you're in enrollment management, you're always focused on the first, but we have to think of the three years after that.

And then the last is how are you communicating and putting out messaging when it comes to financial aid or academics or things of that sort? And the website is a huge tool like this generation is glued to their phone. So making sure your websites are easy to navigate. You're [00:41:00] using clear and concise language there, and you're providing definitions and financial aid terms.

And like I said, you really want to be mindful of all the populations looking at it. It's students and families. So really catering, um, the navigation and like what should be highlighted on your websites, which I know can sometimes be difficult at an institutional level because there's like an image, but talking to your marketing team because you as the people working with students know what they need best and know the information that should be highlighted.

Um, so making sure it's easily accessible to students and parents.

Jaron Tucker: Um, the next thing we're going to talk about as far as also supporting the journey is highlight and then maximize our student employment. Um, one of the biggest things that I've always had this discussion coming in with students, especially at first year is, you know, I don't really know if I can work.

That like, I don't know if I can work and go to school, [00:42:00] um, because there is sometimes that expectation, right? They're coming, they might have not worked at all, or they've worked where they knew that there was a strict requirement on timing and an availability. Right. So one of those biggest, the, one of the biggest things that I always wanted to highlight, like, is that flexible scheduling opportunity that exists for a student employee that doesn't exist for a general employee, where you You have people that are working around your school schedule to help accommodate you being able to work and gain that valuable experience.

Um, and oftentimes I feel like there is always this, there isn't the connection of like, this could potentially be an opportunity for me let me explore, because there isn't a lot of information as far as how that can actually fit within your schedule. And some of the benefits for the work study program itself is like that the wages earned from federal work study and you might hear schools refer to this as FWSP.

Um, so that FWS stands for federal work [00:43:00] study. Um, it does not count against your earned income. So new this year is that schools now have to. Upload the wages that students earn from work study, um, with a department education. So therefore that's accurately captured. So therefore it doesn't count against their earned income on FAFSA.

So the money that they work. Is also not being counted against them right because that's the other thing that gets as well. If I work, then they're going to make me pay more for school and understand that work study is not configured in that same way so right there's a benefit to utilizing work study if you offer.

So, And then the last thing that it can also do is help force the opportunities outside of campus and help strengthen community partnerships so you can have these off campus work study programs and build it with some, some nonprofit organizations in your community. In some cases. Depending on what school you are, some schools work with for profit, um, it's a little bit [00:44:00] more strict, but if there's a program that would really benefit the students educational experience or their degree program, that could potentially be an opportunity for students.

So, you know, by utilizing work study, it gives students the opportunity to help subsidize essentially the amount of money it would cost agency, for example, to pay these students because they'll have this additional support that comes in. So it could turn a potential like just experience opportunity into a paid opportunity that helps benefit that that organization as well as the university because that shows that you're also willing to put your students within the community and help strengthen it.

Um, and so I just think that's always important for students to understand what The benefits of working, um, because naturally you don't want to go through four years school and no work experience. The degree is great and the network you gain after earning a degree from an institution is great, but ultimately when you're going for some of these job [00:45:00] interviews.

You're going up against people who also have degrees, graduated at a certain level too, right? The thing that could separate you two is someone has work experience and you don't, right? So you don't really want to put yourself in a position where you're creating a disadvantage just by focusing only on school, knowing that there's a bigger goal for you afterwards.

Um, and so I think it's just really important for students to understand that, um, as well as the financial aid office to do their part. And making sure that that's also understand by their students, um, and some of the other things you can do is partner with other offices naturally. Depending on the way that a financial aid office is set up work study is usually always attached to it unless you have, unless you have an office that has like a career services dynamic where it has payroll HR and someone handling work study but if you don't, those are the offices that you want to work with.

Right, so leverage the resources that you have if you're not able to do the [00:46:00] work yourself, right. So career services can help highlight the importance of getting work experience in school. They also sometimes have a lot more job opportunities because they're not focused on just work study. They're focused on gaining valuable experience and a student's particular degree field.

So having that context and that cross dialogue to help facilitate even more opportunities that could be beneficial to the students. Um, and then payroll and finance, having a pay, a pay schedule structure and help them minimize time reporting and pay discrepancies to ensure students are paid on time. Um, it's always helpful and there's a lot of things now, especially with remote work being launched then.

Yeah. With state rules on, um, taxes, that is really important to have a good conversation with payroll and finance to ensure that you are doing everything that needs to be done as far as, you know, setting up your students in the right space. HR. Naturally, for help establishing a [00:47:00] protocol for managing student employee relations.

Oftentimes, there is a fight between HR and sometimes student employment because HR is like, we're regular staff and you're supposed to be student employees, but some of the same principles still align. So there's always that dynamic of working together will be more beneficial than the working apart.

Because you don't nearly want to have as much variance between the two, um, between regular staff and student employee staff. Ultimately, there are some things that regular staff receive that, um, student employees aren't. But, as you see that there is a lot more movement in that, in that realm, um, as there have been some, some student organizations that have unionized at schools.

So, I'd say it's really important to have that relationship to help support these students. Um, and then one of the more important things is the international student office. Um, oftentimes and financially you will get hit with questions about what can an international student, what can I do, [00:48:00] what can I work with, and like if you don't, if they don't have work studies sometimes you're not having those interactions, but you want to be able to be willing to assist them with getting someone with the right questions and answers, someone that can actually help answer those questions.

And so having that rapport with the international student office, so it's less of the pass around and just like, all right, yeah, this is what you're able to do. This is the type of visa you're on. This is what job you have to have, and this is the location you need to be in. Um, this is what you need to do once you do get a position.

Having that context at least helps because. You may have other conversations with international students regarding finances, and this may come up so you want to make sure that you're prepared to at least be able to offer a potential solution and a pass off to someone who can help them more. And this one is something that I have suggested for financial aid folks in particular.

If you want to try to create a [00:49:00] work expectation into your awarding structure you can use that as an incentive to encourage students to work, but Only attach it to something that's an unbilled part of cost of attendance, like partial amount of your living expense or miscellaneous, something that's not a bill cost that the student has to pay towards.

Um, therefore at least creates an expectation that like, we believe that you should contribute at least 200 or so for your educational expenses, because we believe that it's important for you to have the work experience to be able to support yourself because. Ultimately, that is something that you will eventually need to gather.

Now, it's not necessarily something that I suggest for all. I think it also depends on your finance, like your, the type of financial awards you're able to provide. So I don't say that that's something everyone should do, but just more so offering suggestions for anyone who was worrying about what can I do to maybe incentivize my students to try to work and gain that valuable experience.[00:50:00]

Um, and naturally, sometimes those conversations have to be had. With people that might sit in higher positions than just the director of the financial aid office. Um, And if you do decide to do that you would naturally want to incorporate language around the work expectation and your communications. I did a net price calculator video with Harvard at my time there, and I made sure that I highlighted what our work expectation was at the time to ensure they understood why we did it the way that we do.

And it was everything that I outlined to you all about the importance of working and setting yourself up for success post graduation when you're in these competitive job markets against everyone else who just graduated college in that same year. And so I think that's important to have listed here.

All right, next slide. All right, the student handbook. So the, the worst [00:51:00] thing a student, the worst thing is for a student to know what their action has caused as opposed to what it will cause. Right. So the student handbook, the Holy Grail can sometimes fail is a catchphrase I've decided I feel like.

Oftentimes, we rely on the student handbook and hope that the student's going to read it from top to bottom and they'll know everything they need to know about financial aid and the things that they need to know about at the university, but you have to take into consideration this. This is a first gen student.

I've had to read a lot just to get to this point in this process. And now that I'm here in school, I know that I'm going to have to read even more. There may be some things that get a little bit lost in context, right? So, I always say you want to continue to try to give people important information in digestible doses, right?

So, cramming through a 60, 80 page student handbook. Yeah, it's great. It's great to [00:52:00] have as the backdrop because you know that you provide a student all resources but if you want to ensure the information of landing, you kind of want to make sure that you continue to incorporate some of those important parts, and whether that's info sessions that you do email blast as you do later.

Um, I think those are the things that you can continue to do right so notify students earlier potential implications to their aid and enrollment status right one of the common things that I've seen, depending on the type of program that you're in, is the students who might. end up in a term where they're, they aren't at halftime status, right?

And if they're dependent on student loans, that's something that will be impacted. Um, and so naturally there's an implication there. It's something that might not happen a lot with, you know, Mostly undergrad degree programs because most of the time there's those restrictions and places like you have to be a full time student in a general day program but they know [00:53:00] for the students who are in the non traditional programs the non traditional students who are attending a program where it might be a part time.

Scenario where they might just be taken two classes a term. Um, but that particular turn they take one class. So just thinking about notifying the students earlier potential implications to their aid and enrollment status. And the same thing goes with SAP. Adjusting your award letters to include information on SAP and merit award requirements.

Um, that should be something that's key, uh, a lot, especially at times with merit awards because oftentimes SAP and merit award requirements might be a little bit different. And so if that exists, you want to make sure that the students have the context that like, hey, you might be good for this award, but for this one, you're going to have to do a little bit more work.

Um, and so having that contest is great. Maintain a great relationship between financial aid, admissions, academic advisement, registrar, and [00:54:00] student accounts is key because these five offices have the biggest impacts on a student's success at the university and degree completion. So they're all intertwined in some way.

Admissions being able to send out an acceptance with a financial aid offer so the students can make their affordable decision. Financial aid making sure documents for certain funds are in, are in so disbursements can occur. In a timely manner to ensure student accounts can process student refunds as well as prevent any holds.

Academic advisement ensuring students know that courses they need to take to complete the program. But also helping students figure out ways to get back on track if they are in danger of losing eligibility, and then registrar insurance student enrollment statuses get reported to the clearinghouse, which has direct impact on students going to repayment.

And so as you can see there are. several webs that connect those offices, so it's really important to maintain a great relationship, great communication dialogue, to ensure that you're doing what's best for [00:55:00] the students, to ensure that there aren't any hiccups that occur. Um, and then the last being leave of absence discussions and how that impacts their aid and prospective future.

So naturally the leave of absence, you would think about R2T4s depending on the timing of their leave, um, and then the impacts that that has on their loan repayment depending on when they come back. Um, and then things that might happen. So like, let's say a student does leave and then they don't come back for a year.

Let's say they never did, uh, like a hardship forbearance deferment type thing on their loans and then they're in default on their loans and then they come back to school and they're in default naturally that impacts their ability to get loans going forward so you want to start thinking about like hey These are the implications that can happen when you do take a leave, want to make sure you're prepared for returns.

So like having those great discussions could lead to a successful return because you just never know how long [00:56:00] someone might go on leave. And if you have, if you have things in place working with the right offices to be able to make sure that that conversation is facilitated is something great to have.

Natalie Wong: So this slide really references is how you can support a student through one of those situations they may be in if they're in SAP, or if they're about to withdraw, and just like three key steps into what you can do to help them through that. So the first is to just always listen, you want to listen to why the student is coming to you from, For help, you want to ask them about their university experience, um, how their day's going and then ask them about their courses or why they're interested or dislike something to Jerome's point.

If you start to switch majors too many times, you could put yourself in danger of SAP in terms of the qualitative, the quantitative, no qualitative of pace. Like you have to complete like over 67 percent of the credits you're [00:57:00] taking. So it's important to have those conversations when you're thinking of scheduling, um, and what courses you're taking and then showing the student that you are there to support them.

You're there to offer them help resources for them to continue success. And then connect the students with those resources directly. A lot of times, like I said, this process may need you taking the extra step. So even though you can give them the number to say, um, career services or academic advising, um, they may not reach out.

So maybe being that middle person because they were already comfortable enough to confide in you to continue to help them get to the next step. directly connect the student with that person so that they can actually utilize that resource. And then you really always just want to make sure you're being realistic with what you're telling the student and helping them make an achievable plan.

Of course, we want them to reach their highest dreams, but in sometimes the moment, it's just getting to let's make sure we get you off of SAP for the next semester. Or if you're going to drop a course this semester, [00:58:00] let's keep you on track by saying you need to add a class next semester, and how are you going to achieve that?

So giving them small, realistic goals, because then they can celebrate those little victories and regain even their confidence if they started to lose it at one point in their academic journey here, and at their institution. Um, and then lastly, you want to motivate them. You want to show them that you're not just showing up this one time, so keep checking in, message your students, see how they're doing.

Um, again, you want to make sure you're maximizing the time that you have with the student, um, just like us, like you don't want a meeting just to have an email, like, sorry, just have a meeting, and then someone say that could have been an email. Um, so really making sure when you're having meetings with students that they are productive and they're goal oriented.

Um, and then, like I said, you just want to continue to celebrate. The students with the goals they're achieving because that's really important. Because again, for these students, this is their first time going through this experience. So when they do something like very positive in the experience, you want to encourage that because it's a big deal.

We can go to the [00:59:00] next slide. So part of that, especially in the financial aid office is you want to create an inclusive financial advising practice within your own office or your own college community. So some strategies and tools to do that is you want to create material to assist students when you're not around, you're not going to be around all the time.

So it's really good that you have like a toolbox within your office of presentations and resources and additional contacts and making sure they have not just you, but other individuals to help support them through their journey. A lot of like tangible tools you want to give them so time management, there's a lot of great apps out there.

One thing that we do is we do lunch and learns at my university. So we'll do one on like how to use outlook like just teaching students all these basic tools that they're going to need to be successful in college. Um, can really help. And the nice thing with the lunch and learns is it's a networking piece, too.

And you'll probably meet other students that are sharing similar experiences [01:00:00] or struggles. And then you kind of help build community in those will teaching them a tangible skill they can use moving forward. Um, You also as the administrators want to know what is working and what isn't. Um, like I said, when we first started doing like support workshops, no one was showing up.

Like too, we would do workshops on budgeting and credit, but then when we started to add in free lunch, people started to show up. So sometimes it's pivoting. Um, the different strategies you're using so that, you know, the students are actually coming and using the information that you're giving them. Um, and then again, you need to remember that each student is unique.

You can't have the same standard procedure for everyone. Some students are going to require more hands on, others are, you just are going to have to give them the information and they'll thrive on their own, but really, again, like making sure you're understanding the student and their experience, or just trying to at least like listen and be empathetic.

Um, so that you can then help them in the best way possible. And then, of course, there has to be [01:01:00] accountability on both ends. If you say you're going to do something for the student, make sure you're following through and vice versa. If the student says that this is what they're going to do to achieve, they have to have accountability on themselves, um, because we are preparing them for the next step, which is like the career world.

Um, and then again, if they need help through the steps, be there as a resource and a support and then provide them the information which is needed to achieve their goals. Don't set goals with them and then don't give them the tools Um, and then again, just making sure you're clearly articulating the expectations of both parties.

What is the student responsible for? What is the administrator responsible for? So that at the end, um, it shows it was a it was a combination of both your efforts that got them there. But if for some reason it doesn't work out, you can kind of see, you know where you can go back in the plan and edit it so then you can get to your end goal.

Um, but those are just a few tips on how to do that. And it's really nice as a staff too, like Jerome said, especially in financial aid, you're [01:02:00] having the same conversation over and over and over again, but then just reminding your staff again that each student is unique. Um, so to reset and be like, okay, I'm going to help this person in this way.

Um, because at the end of the day, we're just all about student success.

Jaron Tucker: And my final saying on this is if you make it make sense, first gen can survive and thrive. So ultimately being able to. explain the information to get it to be digestible for the audience you're receiving. When I talked about the different student groups and how that information might resonate with some in a different way than others, you know, it's really important for you to know your audience.

And a large amount of, a large amount of schools may not have the ability to identify who are first gen students. Um, And so therefore if you don't have that I think it's important for you to find a way to incorporate to help [01:03:00] identify that information. So therefore you can know exactly who you need to approach because right now if you're just hoping that they'll, you know, reveal themselves.

As you can see, there's a lot of variants that exist in that population. Some people might not even know that they are considered first gen students. While there's been a lot of, you know, highlights on first gen students in recent years, there are still going to be those definitions that might not exist.

The person who parent went to college but never graduated might just say, oh, I might not be first gen because my parent went to college and not really understand that, like, you're considered that, um, because your parent didn't graduate, right? So, you know. Making sure you understand the audience, find the ways to identify the students so therefore you can give them the information that you know is going to resonate with them.

Um, and in financial aid, making sure that you get involved with organizations that have contacts with the school counselor. One of the things you make sure you want to do is stay as connected to the community. As those [01:04:00] years start to pass by that you're in financial aid, The point of the point of reference gets a little bit different.

So, I always encourage people to make sure that you're doing what you can to stay connected to the group that you are continuing to serve because no matter how many years in the field you get there's always going to be something new to learn and there will come a time when you might have to adapt. To something new to be able to have the impact that you're hoping to continue to have, um, in this profession, while we might have regulations and things that don't necessarily change often, the students are evolving over time.

Some of them will come in and they'll ask questions. The challenge is the reason why we do these types of. of presentations, right? We want to bring awareness to certain things. And at some point in time, those students are going to be aware of a lot of the information that we have as financial aid professionals.

And so they're going to probably ask questions that are going to be like, Oh wow, I'm surprised that you knew that. Um, and therefore you're going to [01:05:00] have better conversations because there's going to be more context. So I think it starts with having that. You know, making makes it making it make sense to all the students.

So therefore, therefore they can have that information so they can survive and thrive. And we just want to highlight a few resources students can utilize before campus. So you aspire as a nonprofit organization that ensures that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to find an affordable.

Um, path and through college, um, or singular focuses on college affordability and removing financial barriers so that every student has an equitable opportunity to attain a post secondary degree without burdensome debt. Um, the Center for First Generation Student Success is fairly new. Um, But there is a link in here so everyone will receive that they do a lot of research related to first gen student success.

So a lot of these [01:06:00] metrics and stuff I have received from their website and use that as a reference point. So there is a geared up initiative, um, to make sure that that that. that information is being captured and those students are being supported. Um, GEAR UP here is listed. It stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.

Um, it's a national initiative that encourage more young people to have high expectations, um, to stay in school, study hard, and take the right courses to go to college. Um, and then GEAR UP Massachusetts serves the low income priority students in five cohorts across seven of the Commonwealth's most impoverished areas such as Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, Springfield, and Worcester.

Um, target middle and high schools have poverty rates as high as 93 percent and most of the largest are categorized as persistently lowest achieving state improvement grant schools. Um, I believe MASFA [01:07:00] is hosting a carnival of learning with gear up, um, this year. I started off on that, so. You know, there is a lot of work that we are doing in certain of the financial aid realms to make sure that we're starting to get that information or making college seem like an achievable thing for students before they get to high school.

So therefore, you know, they're not getting in. And then two years at the high school where maybe they already had made up, like they might have not performed the way that they needed to, to be able to go to their dream school or target. This allows them to have the information and think like, Oh, I could actually afford to go here.

So let me actually put the performance in from the start to ensure that I give myself a good chance to be accepted there if I know I can afford it. Right. So more early awareness around it. So like these are organizations that are, um, helping with the support of that.[01:08:00]

And that concludes our presentation.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Well, I want to thank you so much. I actually don't see any questions at the moment. Um, if there is one, please put that, um, in the Q and A, but I think that's because this was so thorough and you provided just A road map and such detailed information. And, um, so everyone, you will receive this recording and you'll receive the slides also.

So I just know that's going to be so helpful to so many of you and share with others that you think might use this as well. So, Jerome, Natalie, thank you very, very much again. And, um, we really appreciate your expertise and, um, all of all of your great information. everyone. And you have a wonderful afternoon.

Oh, wait a minute. Okay, we might have a question.

Um, [01:09:00] two questions. I'll, I'll ask these because they're sort of, um, well, no, they're different. Um, would you consider a student with only one parent who attended college not a first gen student?

Jaron Tucker: Oh, um, no. Well, I mean, it depends, because if they had one parent who attended college but didn't finish, they would be considered a first gen student. Um, if they had one parent who actually did, um, complete college and the other didn't, then they would not be considered a first gen student.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you. And the other question is, are there any distinctions, um, that could be made for first generation students of color?

Jaron Tucker: Yeah, so there is so because of the fact that there hasn't been a ton of data outside of what has been done in the recent years, um, there hasn't been as much to break down the difference between the, um, the different groups, especially like the racial ethnicities. I imagine that [01:10:00] that's probably going to get a little bit more complicated due to the SCOTUS decision.

Um, and people's kind of like the scaredness that exists with like, Wanting to bring race into anything, but I think that ultimately that will continue to be something that is able to develop naturally a lot of, there is an attachment that has a lot of the low, the low income students of color, which I fell into that bracket That those are, those are the ones that have the highest default rates.

Right. So, it wasn't I didn't have outlined in there just because I was, um, I'm trying to just keep it all applicable but naturally that is the largest group that faces the most when being able to try to overcome these hurdles because typically in the areas in which. Um, those students were coming from those are the areas that don't have as much resources and guidance, um, and it's limitations on the amount of [01:11:00] information so some of those support systems that help some of the other students be educated about the process.

Those don't exist and sometimes it's a crash course landing on from them, which is one of the reasons why I felt compelled to. You know, put this on because I have a passion to make sure to educate people on the information that could be done at the college level to ensure that when those students do reach these platforms, they have the information necessary to succeed.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you so much. Thank you, Jerome. Thank you, Natalie. And thank you, everyone. And have a good afternoon evening.