The Role of Social Media and Other Technologies in Navigating the Financial Aid Process: A Case Study of Community Colleges

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Postsecondary Financial Aid and Tuition

Abstract

Need-based financial aid was designed to improve higher education access, but federal and state aid programs require students and families to navigate a time-dependent, information-driven, and procedurally complex process. Recent policy efforts have concentrated on simplifying the FAFSA with mixed results. This chapter moves beyond narrow discussions of simplification to examine current efforts to leverage social media (and similar technologies) to ease information, communication, and timing problems that plague students pursuing aid. The chapter also identifies the limits of what social media can accomplish, with particular attention to if and how it can effectively serve the needs of disadvantaged students, emphasizing how the criteria and delivery of financial aid has differential consequences for community college and non-traditional students.

Authors

• Regina J. Deil-Amen, The University of Arizona

• Cecilia Rios Aguilar, Claremont Graduate University