On April 27, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Part-time Student Assistance Act (H.R. 2017), which would allow students to exempt more of their income from student aid calculations, provide more on-campus child care, allow for year-round Pell grants, and create a part-time assistance pilot program to develop comprehensive programming aimed at enrolling and graduating part-time students.
AAUW strongly supports this legislation, as it takes important steps towards providing nontraditional students greater access to higher education. Despite your earlier action on this bill, nearly 90 percent of the representatives have yet to sign on as cosponsors.
Our federal financial aid system is designed with the traditional college student in mind, yet part-time and nontraditional students are now the norm on college campuses, and such students are disproportionately women. Nontraditional students—those who are part-time, working, older, or parenting—face unique challenges as they seek to finance a college education. These students more frequently must balance work, school, and family commitments but have limited access to financial aid and other resources.
In light of the increasing number of nontraditional and parenting students, legislation must create programs that help these students enter college, stay in college, and earn a degree
Please contact your Representative in DC and ask that they sign on to this bill as a cosponsor.
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