A new study from the University of California-Merced found college financial aid in California fails to target the students considered dually disadvantaged; those from families who are both low-income and low-wealth.
The families have low annual incomes and have few assets such as college savings accounts, investments or real estate, the type of wealth often passed down through generations.
Laura Hamilton, professor of sociology, cofounder of the HERE Lab at the university and the report’s co-author, said students who are dually disadvantaged end up borrowing a lot more money for their education.
“Relative to their peers who are just low-income, dually-disadvantaged students get about the same amount of aid but they have a lot more need,” Hamilton explained.
The study found only 52% of dually disadvantaged students are predicted to attend college compared to 83% of students from low-income, high-wealth families. Similarly, only 20% of dually disadvantaged students are predicted to complete a bachelor’s degree compared to 59% of students from low-income, high-wealth families.
Hamilton argued college financial aid needs to be increased to benefit more students.
“We simulated what would happen if we instituted an additional $5,000 need-based supplemental state aid grants given to students who are both in the bottom income bracket, and have $0 in wealth,” Hamilton explained. “You would see much higher numbers of college graduates in each cohort.”
The report estimated more than 41,000 dually disadvantaged students would qualify for such a grant, so the program would cost the state about $208 million, producing an extra 4500 graduates per year and $966 million in economic returns as the graduates entered the workforce.
