According to the National College Attainment Network’s (NCAN) spring numbers students seeking financial aid, and re-upping their financial aid are down nationally.
This is manifest in fewer FAFSA forms and fewer Pell grant applications and renewals.
According to a spring NCAN report, new applications were down 8.9 percent compared to 2021. Renewals were 12.3 percent.
Ivy Tech Community College Director of Financial Aid Casey Trela Trella says there are a few possible causes.
“There's a decreasing amount of high school graduates nationally,” he said. “Coming out of the pandemic, people are questioning the value of their degrees. So there's a lot of variables and forces coming into play.”
Even if someone is approved for student financial aid, interest rates are increasing in July.
According to a May release from The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, interest rates for new federal loans are expected to increase from 3.73 percent to 4.99 percent for undergrad Direct Loans.
Graduate and unsubsidized loans are also expected to increase.
But Trela said administrators like him are more worried about the reductions in student loan applications.
“As I've mentioned previously, we have seen, the interest rates on student loans, adjust every so often. But more concerning is the FAFSA filing rates.”
He encourages students to fill out a FAFSA form, and explore programs to fund a college education.
Kindra Strupp, a spokesperson for the University of Southern Indiana, says underserved populations, and people of color have even lower in FAFSA applications than the general population.
According to Jace Lux with Western Kentucky University, their FAFSA applications have bucked the national trend by growing slightly.
This is consistent with the rest of Kentucky as a whole.
