Lumina grant to make higher education more accessible for Alaskans

Submitted by Mary Gower
Phone: (907) 474-1516
10/14/04

The Coalition of Alaskans Supporting Higher Education, or CASHE, has been awarded a three-year $210,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation to offer the College Goal Sunday program throughout Alaska. CASHE is a unique public/private partnership formed by the Alaska Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Education Consortium, and the University of Alaska, to identify opportunities and implement programs to increase access to higher education for Alaska’s low-income families and their children.

Alaska’s first College Goal Sunday event will take place on February 13, 2005. Traditionally offered a week or two after Super Bowl Sunday, College Goal Sunday is designed to help students and families, particularly low-income and first generation college goers, clear the paperwork hurdle when applying for college financial aid. For the Alaska event, financial aid professionals from Alaska’s institutions of higher education and the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education will join other volunteers to fan out to key community hubs across Alaska to help families fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the universally required financial aid application.

In addition to assisting with the FAFSA, CASHE organizations will launch an extensive public information campaign to reach traditionally under-represented Alaska populations and inform them of the importance of an education beyond high school, the availability of financial aid, and the existence of College Goal Sunday to help them complete the FAFSA.

Paul Kraft, University of Alaska Southeast’s Dean of Students and CASHE President, noted that the Alaska College Goal Sunday team "will develop a program that will deliver information to those who need it most by bringing the information to those groups, rather than requiring those students and parents to go out and find it."?

National research indicates that not understanding the college financial aid process is a significant barrier to higher education for low-income families.

"College Goal Sunday fills an important information gap,"? said Martha D. Lamkin, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education. "Many qualified, low-income students need to receive more information about the availability of financial aid and expert assistance in filling out the paperwork required to qualify for financial aid. This assistance may sound simple, but without this additional help, many students miss this necessary first step to an education beyond high school."?

The partnership of the University of Alaska, the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, Alaska Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and the ANCSA Education Consortium provides unique opportunities to make the benefits of higher education more accessible to all Alaskans and to the communities where they live and work. For more information about Alaska’s College Goal Sunday event, please contact the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education at 800-441-2962 (465-2962 in Juneau) or www.alaskadvantage.state.ak.us.

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About CASHE
The Coalition of Alaskans Supporting Higher Education is a partnership of the University of Alaska, the ANCSA Education Consortium, the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE), and the Alaska Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (AALASFA), designed to identify opportunities and implement programs to make the economic, individual and community benefits of higher education available to Alaskans and to Alaska’s diverse communities.

About College Goal Sunday
The College Goal Sunday Program was created by the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association (ISFAA), with funding from Lilly Endowment, Inc., and with supplemental support from Lumina Foundation for Education.

About Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through research, grants for innovative programs and communication initiatives, Lumina Foundation addresses issues surrounding financial access and educational retention and degree or certificate attainment, particularly among underserved student groups, including adult learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people. For more details on the Foundation, visit its website at www.luminafoundation.org.

For More Information Contact:

Robert Conlon, Communications Contact, CASHE, (907) 269-7980
Paul Kraft, President, CASHE, (907) 465-6457