Financial Aid for Adult Students

How One University Maps New Strategies

For this issue, CenterPoint interviewed Jay Halfond, dean, and Judith Marley, assistant dean, at Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET)—one example of the many institutions that are focusing on funding for adult students. 

CenterPoint: Why did you start the college’s Community Scholar program?

Jay Halfond: We began the program to attract new, part-time undergraduate adult students and increase access for underserved populations. In fall 2005, graduates from five Massachusetts community colleges were offered this opportunity for scholarships. In that first semester, 10 students were awarded these scholarships. By spring of 2007, we had 42 scholars in total.

CP: Does MET offer other financial aid programs for nontraditional students?

Judith Marley: The College has several other scholarship projects—many of which are designed to attract and support underserved or nontraditional working adults. Employer efforts for career pathing include scholarships for Boston Medical Center employees as well as a limited number of full tuition scholarships to employees of the City of Boston.

We also award graduate assistantships to more than 50 students annually across our various academic departments. Graduate assistants support our administrative, teaching, and research activities.

CP: What challenges do you find in the current programs?

Halfond: The scholarship funds are self-funded by Boston University, so there are only a finite number of them. A second limitation is managing expectations for students, faculty, and staff to make sure that services are comprehensive and our scholars succeed. And there’s the project’s labor intensity, with a variety of stakeholders to engage in dialogue to ensure the project’s success with academic instruction, student services, and data for applied research and informed practice.

Marley: One solution that we’re considering for the labor intensity challenge is supplementing outreach activities with the services of an AmeriCorps*Vista volunteer. These volunteers are in place at each of the community colleges with which we are partnering for the Community Scholar program. Such a strategy would deepen engagement activities and help reach students who could benefit from this offering.

CP: How has the Community Scholar program grown, and how would you like to expand financial aid support for adult students?

Halfond: Our initial goal was to improve access to existing services and information, and increase outreach efforts at community colleges. We’ve documented these projects so that we have data and outcomes to position these as national models.

We added a financial aid advisor at the college [MET] level. We’ve increased information about financial aid at undergraduate open houses and engaged our colleagues at the university’s financial aid office to work more closely with us. The Boston University office also recently launched a new and improved financial aid web site for our students.

Marley: Our next phase will be to use the model, student data, and testimonials to seek foundation support for these types of projects. We also envision opportunities for workforce and economic development through career pathing and linking projects with the not-for-profit sector. We're currently doing this with corporate employers through our Preferred Educational Partnerships, where we work with employers to help make the best use of their existing tuition and employee development benefits. 

CP: How are other sectors, such as business/industry and local/state governments, participating to provide financial aid support?

Marley: On the employer front, we’ve cultivated our Preferred Educational Partnership relationships. At this time, the focus is at the graduate level, but the framework could support undergraduates. The Community Scholar project is also part of discussions with employers seeking to provide career pathing for employees. One example is Verizon’s NEXT STEP program, introduced to us by our community college partner Quinsigamond Community College. We hope to partner with other educational institutions, as well as employers, in models that create an economic development infrastructure to assist students at the local, regional, and national level.

                                                         --Rebecca Grossfield

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This page last updated on 4/27/2007