KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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The average American college student comes out of college with $30,000 in debt, a local university wants some Missouri students to know what it would be like to come out of college without a single penny in debt.
The U.S. Department of Education revamped the free application for federal student aid last year, hoping it would make it easier to file. However, online filing errors made it more difficult, even causing some students to delay getting a college education.
“About 250,000 fewer students went to college this year than went to college the year before because of the FAFSA crisis,” said Dr. Jim Burkee, president of Avila University.
Avila University in south Kansas City saw a 40% drop in the number of students filing FAFSA. Burkee said it can cause significant implications.
As a new application season just opened up—Avila University is switching things up.
“Well this time around, this year we pray it works, we pray it works right and we will be here to help you so we’ve flipped the tables,” he said.
Burkee will tell you college enrollment numbers dropping is never a good thing and Avila University in south Kansas City is working to avoid that by an affordable pathway to come to college.
With the Avila Access Award, instead of having to do the FAFSA first and worrying about getting that financial aid, Burkee said they’ll give financial aid to Missourian residents whose families make less than $80,000 and help file the FAFSA.
“If your family income is at $80,000 or less you qualify to come to Avila free of charge if you’re from the state of Missouri and that's a big deal,” he said.
Any student living in Missouri, with a household with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $80,000 or less can apply for the Avila Access Award. Plus, students who are not eligible for this award are still provided up to $30,000 in scholarships to attend Avila.
A move that’s working, Burkee said applications are 25% up from last year—and deposits are up 40% from last year.
“Colleges like to put barriers in place, so we’re stripping those away to make it easy to apply, know you’re going to college, and then have a team to help you finish the next steps to go to college,” he said.
“It’s relieving for families, I wish I had that opportunity,” said Justyse Carta, Avila master's student.
Carta recently filed for FAFSA for her master's program.
“Getting to see more families just get the opportunity and not having to go into debt is so huge,” she said. “It’s very overwhelming for families, my mom was always stressed when I did mine, getting all the info and making sure it's correct is a big deal. This is what we need to do together and we can kind of take on college, it's overwhelming to go to college, a lot of low-income families are first-generation. Being able to see them succeed is really, really rewarding.”
Avila University information can be found here.
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