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A Bold New Financial Aid Program Tackles Issues of Affordability and Accessibility in the Changing Higher Education Landscape

By UNC Asheville

April 12^th, 2024

Is College Still Worth It?

By Becca Andrews ‘18

Illustration by Michael Hirshon

Brian Hickey, a non-traditional business major at UNC Asheville, spent several years in the workforce, and in the Navy, getting hands-on experience in fabrication and electric systems. After a while, though, he said he found himself limited.

“After I left the Navy and worked at the University of Chicago, I really felt myself underneath the paper ceiling despite all my training and experience,” Hickey said. “Not the glass ceiling, but the paper one because there were times when I literally could not apply for other jobs because I couldn’t actually check a box that said I had a bachelor's degree.”

In his decision to return to school, some of the biggest pros were the upward mobility and increased earning potential that result from having a degree.

“A huge part of the equation of choosing to go to school is confidence of starting a career that is not just emotionally rewarding but also financially rewarding so you can pay back student loans,” Hickey said.

Brian Hickey (middle left) in a business consulting practicum class at UNC Asheville. Hickey returned to school after he felt limited in his career without a degree.

For Hickey, and many students, college is an investment, one they hope to recoup a significant return on. With the rising cost of tuition nation-wide, it is an investment many are finding harder to afford.

Access Asheville is a new financial aid program from UNC Asheville that pledges a full tuition and fees for full-time, in-state students whose household Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is $80,000 or lower.

It began when Marcio Moreno, associate vice chancellor for admissions and financial aid, and his department began reviewing eight years of the University’s financial aid and enrollment data, identifying patterns and new ways to distribute resources to maximize their effect in the total student headcount.

“That exercise gave us the opportunity to realize that our financial aid packages were actually very, very competitive,” Moreno said. “We decided to give it a name and be very vocal about it. We're almost sure that for the population Access Asheville applies to, this is probably the most attractive financial package they are going to have.”

The value of accessibility resonates throughout the University, from the financial aid office to the professors at the front of the classroom.

“We pride ourselves on being an accessible, very high value for low cost kind of institution, and I believe in that mission,” said Amanda Wolfe, chemistry professor.

“That's why I'm here, because I believe education should be accessible for everyone and there shouldn't be barriers. Students are amazing regardless of where they come from and what they can pay.”

Chemistry Professor Amanda Wolfe said she believes UNC Asheville to be a high value for low cost university.

The AGI requirement is well above the state’s median income of $65,000, meaning Access Asheville could potentially impact more than half of North Carolina families, providing an annual savings of at least $7,461 per family.

“Few institutions actually are able to take financial aid to the next level, to use financial aid as a recruitment tool. Access Asheville is definitely not traditional,” Moreno said. “This program allows us to be forward-thinking, making sure that UNC Asheville is in the news, in their minds, bringing something different.”

Access Asheville and the Office of Financial Aid pull from multiple sources — federal and state grants, scholarships, aid, and private gifts — to ensure that qualifying students have their tuition and fees covered completely by financial aid, said Moreno.

“Some other universities cover tuition, but we have gone a step further by covering tuition and fees,” said Shannon Shepherd, director of financial aid. “That's a great step in making sure that college remains affordable, especially for our low-income families.”

Not Just Affordable, But Accessible

Students today have reason to be concerned about the average cost of college, which has doubled in the last 30 years, according to research completed by CollegeBoard. Coupled with rising inequality in income levels, college can seem more unaffordable than ever for many families, requiring a larger share of household income to afford it.

Worrying about how to pay factors into the health and likelihood of success for students. According to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, students with large gaps between the cost of college and funds available to them garner more debt, face higher degrees of food and housing insecurity, and are more likely to leave school without a credential.

Plus, for those first-generation students without a family member who has been to college to guide them through applications, applying for financial aid and loans, the entire process is that much more daunting.

“There is nothing more difficult than working with families for three, four, five months, just for them to either realize they cannot do it or give up in the process because they think they cannot do it,” Moreno said. “I have worked with so many families where they have the GPA, they have the scores, they have the ability. They have everything they need. They just don't know how they're going to pay.”

Now imagine the student is the primary English speaker in their family, trying to understand and translate complicated forms and processes. Moreno said he sees this occur in his own Hispanic community.

“When most of the population is going to be first generation, your parents don't understand. Even if you want to do it, they may be trying to talk you out of it and tell you it is not possible: ‘A loan, for how much, for how long, that early in your life? It's better to start working, right?’” Moreno said.

Take Hickey for example: he opted to go into a trade because he did not see college as a good fit for him. While he does not regret his trade experience — rather, he highly values it — he acknowledges there can be a limit to your earnings and career mobility without a degree.

He cites an example anyone in Asheville is familiar with — craft brewing. To become a brewer, he said, you may make $30,000 a year at the entry level and eventually cap around $50,000 with experience. However, with a degree you could be the brewery’s accountant, its CFO, or its marketing manager and earn a more lucrative salary, while still remaining in the industry.

“Every time we can have a program that opens their eyes that college is possible, it's so important to me,” Moreno said. “You never know if that person you lost a couple of weeks before classes was going to be the person discovering the next vaccine, the person developing the next software that would revolutionize the world.”

Marcio Moreno said Access Asheville helps students not only afford college, but see college as an accessible, realistic goal for themselves.

That is where the “access” portion of Access Asheville is important; efforts are being made to streamline the process and provide plenty of student support to make college attainable.

This involves saying yes to every college fair, to every opportunity to meet the students where they’re at. It means setting up appointments with students and parents to go through any and all questions. It is getting students’ acceptance letters to them faster than ever.

“Every student that gets accepted gets an offer of scholarship at that point, in the same package,” Moreno said. “There are plenty of opportunities for every student to see themselves as someone who can afford the full price.”

Even If You Can Afford It, Is It Worth It?

Many Americans question whether college education is worth the cost, viewing college as expensive, time-consuming and not meeting the needs of today’s students. Research done by Public Agenda’s Hidden Common Ground shows only 49 percent of Americans think the economic benefits of a college education outweigh the costs and young adults are particularly skeptical.

This is in part because going to college almost comes with the assumption of going into debt. According to the Federal Reserve Consumer Credit report, 43.5 million Americans have federal or private student loan debt, making it the fastest-growing form of debt, increasing more than 500 percent since 2003.

The average amount of student loan debt is $37,338 per borrower, an increase from roughly $26,600 in 2013 and $18,200 in 2007, according to the Education Data Initiative. In order to make it feasible, a student has to expect that their lifetime earnings will outstrip the cost and loans.

A study commissioned by the NC General Assembly and conducted by Deloitt found that the “median lifetime earnings of UNC System bachelor’s degree graduates are $1.2 million – surpassing lifetime earnings of North Carolinians without degrees by about $572,000.”

The average student in the UNC System breaks even on their education investment in less than 10 years.

Nearly 90 percent of low-income students experienced upward mobility in the UNC System. In general, students from low-income families have the most to gain from a college education, as their prospects in the job market increase more than other demographics.

A highly accessible, affordable higher education system not only benefits North Carolina residents but also benefits the state itself. Well-rounded, educated students, make well-rounded, involved community members and employees.

Adults with higher levels of education are also active citizens, according to CollegeBoard. They vote more, volunteer more, are more involved in their children’s lives and education, and they even exercise more. They help attract more employers and industries to the state.

“I think it's very important for the community at large, for the state especially and for the surrounding areas that students are equipped to go out and go into the workforce. It makes the community more effective,” Shepherd said. “UNC Asheville students are so well-rounded; whatever community they choose to go into, they're going to make an impact.”

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