MTV Getting Inside Your Head on Going to College

MTV and the National Association of Governators have been trying to get inside your head about how you have been trying to get to college.

I got a sneak peak over the weekend at a poll being released on Tuesday by the unlikely partners of MTV and the National Governor’s Association. They have teamed up with boy genius Bill Gates to figure out why more young people can’t or don’t attend college.

(You can check out the poll sometime on Tuesday at Think MTV. It will be posted there as soon as it goes public.)

The big focus of the poll is the frustration that so many young people want to go to college yet a big number of those don’t make it for one reason or another. Two big theories on why: 1) That schools could be doing a lot more to prepare potential college students, 2) Good intentions are not enough if the cash isn’t there to pay for it.

The MTV folks and the Governors are calling this the “Ambition Gap.”

What was not surprising in the poll was that the cost of going to college – or lack of money to pay for it – was cited as a big big problem. Specifically, the poll says that of those young people not planning on or not in college, “lack of financial means” is the top reason. 28% volunteered that as the reason, with the next highest answer given being military service (much further down the list at 6%).

Schools seem to be doing okay in the poll, but according to their report, “About one-third cite ‘courses that prepare you for the real world’ as the top item that would most help make their education better.” Makes sense. Its not just money, it knowledge.

On the money side, don’t take your own word for it though. What I mean is, polls are polls and while they can tell us a lot, they shouldn’t become a sole substitute for fact. In this case the two line up.

The number crunchers at The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance (an independent advisory group to Congress) did some math at the Department of Education and found that “On average, the very lowest income students face $3,200 of unmet need at two-year public institutions and $3,800 at four-year public institutions.”

By unmet need, they mean that even with good help from family and from financial aid sources, low income students can’t do it. i.e., Access Denied! (the name of the report, which can also be found on their web site). I don’t think things have gotten any better since they first checked this out a few years ago, and I wish they would put the new numbers up on their web site.

So check out the poll at MTV. It is on a new part of their web site dedicated to issues that young people think a lot about. The poll is really big (1,600 young people) with over-samples done for minority youth who tend to be most at risk in between HS and college.

Most importantly though, do something. Congress is battling over whether or not to increase money for student aid. Senator Kennedy (D-MA) won an important amendment to increase funding for Pell Grants, but the Leadership in Congress undid it in a conference committee with the House of Representatives. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Kennedy, and others are leading the fight to get the money back, but your members of congress need to here from you.

You can find out more about this at www.studentaidaction.com. They have some online videos, a goofy cartoon about student debt, and some simple ways to take action. Check it out.