Fresh Perspectives: HPU Anthology of First Year Writing, Spring 2013

traditional student has been in the workforce for several years and often is the head of a household that includes children. This could definitely create a tight financial situation that would warrant applying for the Pell Grant. The reason the authors of “Pell Grants Flunk Out” point out that 60% of students are financially independent is to suggest that those students emancipated from their parents for the sole reason of being eligible for the Pell Grant. This does sound persuasive until you look at other facts, after which it just doesn’t seem likely. The reality is that most non-traditional students are, in fact, financially independent from their parents. In many cases, it is because students are no longer dependent that they get the grant and not the other way around. Whether students are independent of parental support really has no bearing on whether or not the system is being taken advantage of, because these students legitimately qualify for the grant.

Further, the article states that the Pell Grant is encouraging more first-time students to apply to college; however, it also says that most are not graduating. Yet the authors do not specify how they are determining if students are not graduating. Are they saying that students are not graduating in the typical four years, or they are not graduating, period? They also do not specify if they are taking into account that many Pell Grant students may have transferred to other colleges, not dropped out like the article suggests. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pell Grant program is actually working the opposite of its intention: students who didn’t receive the grant are much more likely to graduate than students who did. Yet the authors fail to mention that it takes 56% of the college population about six years to graduate with a bachelor’s degree (Wendler).

The fact that students who receive the grant don’t graduate as quickly or as frequently as students who don’t is not surprising, and has logical explanations. People who don’t qualify for the grant would naturally be from higher income families, and research shows that college completion rates are almost always directly related to socioeconomic background (Wendler). Therefore, if you come from a family with money, chances are you had a better high school education, more family support, and most likely will not have to work during college. These factors alone would set anyone up for success. When trying to determine if a first-year college student will become a second-year college student, there are several areas to look at: “Delayed enrollment, not having a high school diploma, being enrolled only part time, being financially independent, having dependents, single parent status and working full time while enrolled” (“2011 National Profile”).

These are seven factors affecting graduation rates. Pell recipients oftentimes have several of these factors working against them, aside from just being poor. The average family income of the average Pell Grant recipient is $20,302, in contrast with the much higher average rate of non-recipients at $69,235 (“2011 National Profile”). Most non-recipients don’t have to deal with the factors that negatively impact Pell Grant recipients. This isn’t saying the Pell program isn’t working, but it is clearly saying that these people often show up for the first day of class with the cards stacked against them in a way that many non-recipients, or the authors of the article, would not understand.

College is hard; working while in college is even harder. Throw a couple children into the mix and imagine how hard it can be. Being a non-traditional student and graduating in six years versus four, with all these other things to worry about, isn’t surprising, nor does it seem like a problem. Everyone is on their own journey and inevitably it will take people varying times to meet certain goals. This shouldn’t be a basis for whether or not a support program is working. Data should be measured over a longer period with more definite parameters. In addition, there is an effort underway to increase the - 95 -