How to Pay for College: Demystifying the Financial Aid Process for Low-income High School Seniors

Abstract

Applying for financial aid can be a convoluted process filled with jargon and unclear steps. For socioeconomically disadvantaged high school seniors, the financial aid process may have additional barriers. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students tend to have lower financial aid literacy that may prevent them from applying and enrolling into college. The How to Pay for College course is an accessible, asynchronous online course that breaks down the financial aid process into four foundational lessons: 1. What is Cost of Attendance; 2. What is Financial Aid; 3. How to Apply for Financial Aid; 4. How to Read a Financial Aid Award Letter. Pre- and post-test assessments were conducted to measure course usability, learning effectiveness, and attitudinal perceptions. Fourteen participants (n=14) completed the course. After completing the course, participants demonstrated an average improvement of 16 percentage points between pre-test and post-test scores. Participants also expressed an increase in confidence in how to pay for college after completing the course. The positive results of the learning effectiveness evaluation and attitudinal survey suggest that the course content and instruction were successful in increasing participants’ financial aid literacy.