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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2021
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APPEAL TRIBUNE
Student financial aid still available
Jordyn Brown Register-Guard
USA TODAY NETWORK
Fewer college students applied for
state and federal financial aid in 2020
compared to years past — a drop attrib-
uted to the pandemic and economic
downturn, hurting colleges’ bottom
lines.
However, state leaders say the num-
ber of students applying for funds is
bouncing back, with more financial aid
available to Oregon students than previ-
ously and plenty of time left for stu-
dents to apply.
Connecting with
students at home
Each year in the fall, school counsel-
ors send emails to seniors asking them
to start their post-grad planning since
FAFSA opens on Oct. 1 and funds are
limited.
In a typical year, longtime Eugene
Sheldon High School counselor Michael
Voss would help students with the FAF-
SA, which stands for Free Application
for Federal Student Aid, process in per-
son. But during the pandemic, they had
to make some changes.
The school held a handful of Zoom
sessions for both students and parents,
recorded them and sent the videos out
as well as follow-up emails to students
who had yet to file.
There was more parent engagement
with the sessions this year than years
past, Voss said, which he believes is due
to it being online and more accessible,
and parents wanting to ensure students
are going through the process.
It was such a success, the school
counselors plan to record a how-to
video for next year’s graduating class.
Voss said he also saw an emotional
change in graduating seniors this year
versus the year before.
“There was a lot of frustration at the
end of that (2019-2020) school year,”
Voss said. “I do think there was a re-
newed hope and that renewed hope of
things moving forward came when we
were able to do in-person graduation.”
What the data shows
As of June 1, 46% of Oregon’s gradu-
ating high school seniors had applied for
financial aid for the 2021-2022 academ-
ic year through FAFSA or the Oregon
Student Aid Application (which is for
undocumented students), state data
shows.
This is compared to 52% of seniors in
2020 and 59% the year before that.
Federal data breaks it down even fur-
ther to the district level.
The Salem-Keizer School District
saw a decrease of about 10% year over
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) concept. SALEM
year, down from 60% to 64% in 2020.
Most students typically apply by
February if they have clear college
plans. But this year, students are con-
tinuing to file through the summer, so
the number of applications is coming
back up.
“As of July 15, we (had) 159,608 filers”
for the 2021-2022 academic year, said
Juan Baez-Arevalo, director of Oregon’s
Office of Student Access and Comple-
tion. For the 2020-2021 academic year,
there were about 156,000 filers.
This includes returning undergradu-
ates, nontraditional students and those
who maybe took a gap year.
“Here you have a high school class,
close to 15% of them by now are filing or
have filed, and meanwhile there’s a
much broader, much greater population
that has filed. ... So when I say we’re up
overall, I’m talking about the overall
count.”
In a more stable economic year, like
2018-2019, the state had 169,000 to
170,000 undergraduates filed at this
point.
“Mind you, the FAFSA application is
still open for the 2021-2022 academic
year so they could still file,” he said. “We
still have room to grow to get back to
(the numbers seen in) 2018-2019 or
2017-2018 school years, and we want to
get back up there.”
Decline, rebound repeats history
The Office of Student Access and
Completion has been around for more
than 50 years.
It’s not uncommon to see FAFSA
completion rates fluctuate over the
years, Baez-Arevalo said, especially
with economic uncertainty.
“Statistically, FAFSA records peaked
a few years after the Great Recession
took its toll,” he said. “So, 2011, 2012,
2013 — those were the peak periods. …
During that peak period, you had a great
number of adults who were seeking to
enroll, get back to school, get some sort
of training, get some sort of credential
and get a job. Since that peak, there had
been a slight downward slope.”
When the economy was strong be-
tween 2017 to 2019, the numbers were
stable, he said. Going into the 2019-
2020 school year, there was a slight de-
cline in applications, which then only
got worse.
“That slight decline went into a dire
downward spiral because of COVID-19
in the 2020-2021 academic year,” Baez-
Arevalo said.
For the coming fall, though, he said
things are bouncing back. After the
state’s report closed June 1, another 224
students completed the application in
just one week.
This rebound will likely have an im-
pact on college and university enroll-
ment this fall, which also took a dive last
year nationally and statewide.
“We’re anticipating that enrollment
at some of our public universities will
regain some steam and be stronger this
fall than last fall,” he said.
Student aid still available
Looking forward to this fall, funds are
still available for college students, even
if they fill out the application this sum-
mer.
“The Oregon Legislature and the gov-
ernor have supported (an) increase of
about $28.8 million into the Oregon Op-
portunity Grant,” which goes to stu-
dents attending college in Oregon, Baez-
Arevalo said.
“We are now in a position to continue
to issue the award to students who are
filing late, and to students with a higher
(estimated financial contribution) than
we were in the last three to four (to) five
years.”
The grant limit before was about
$3,500 a year for individual students
and now the state will raise that to about
$6,000.
The state office took a similar ap-
proach to Sheldon High in creating how-
to videos on the OSAC Oregon YouTube
channel to help students file for differ-
ent scholarships and aid, which Baez-
Arevalo said he hopes will bridge a gap
for late applicants if they need help.
“It’s never too late to start,” he said.
Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at
jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-246-
4264, and follow her on Twitter @thejor-
dynbrown and Instagram @register-
guard.
Podcast: Best hikes at Oswald West State
Park, plus how Oregon’s beaches were saved
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
In the latest episode of the Explore
Oregon Podcast, Zach and David dis-
cuss Oswald West State Park, a relative-
ly compact park on the north coast fea-
turing stunning hikes and fascinating
history.
They discuss the best trails at the
park nestled between Cannon Beach
and Manzanita and how to avoid the
crowds, while diving into the legend of
buried Spanish gold and the early 1900s
fight to make Oregon’s beaches public.
The podcast is joined by Jim Moore, a
professor and director of political out-
reach at the Tom McCall Center for Civic
Engagement, to discuss how former
Governor Oswald West wrestled the
beaches and other public lands from
private interests and set the path for
Oregon as a state that values conserva-
tion, public access and scenery.
The podcast includes discussion of
movies inspired and filmed on the north
coast and how to make up a song about
what you’re seeing on the trail while hik-
ing with kids.
Listen now at StatesmanJour-
nal.com/oswald
west
View of Neahkahnie from the trail
leading to Cape Falcon. ZACH URNESS /
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Views from the summit of Neahkahnie Mountain. ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL