Silver State Opportunity Grant pushes college students to attend full-time

While attending the College of Southern Nevada part time, the 19-year-old juggles odd jobs to help her parents, who are raising an infant daughter and two adopted relatives. She also helps care for the children while living at home.

“There’s so much to do,” said Sotelo-Calderon, who has already fallen behind in obtaining an associate degree in communications within the school’s recommended two-year period. “It’s kind of hard, especially when I have to come home to baby-sit.”

Students like her pose a conundrum for state education officials intent on raising Nevada’s dismal college graduation rates, among the lowest in the nation. Students greatly diminish their chances of earning a degree by going to college only part -time, officials worry. So among this year’s bevy of Legislature-approved efforts to strengthen the state’s higher education system, school leaders have established the Silver State Opportunity Grant, which will offer $5 million in financial assistance to students who take at least 15 credits per semester beginning this fall.

But that requirement concerns students like Sotelo-Calderon as well as lawmakers and education activists, who believe it excludes those facing demanding family and work obligations.

“Some of us have no choice,” said Karin Rodriguez, a former college dropout who eventually spent three years earning an associate degree from CSN while working as a security guard to support his wife and child. “I have to pay for my bills and make sure my daughter has something to eat.”

THE ‘FULL-TIME’ DEBATE

Rodriguez approached lawmakers in March to praise the grant while urging them to reconsider the 15-credit requirement. He wasn’t alone — lawmakers including state Sen. Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, expressed similar concerns.

But proponents argue that the program’s political success hinges on the graduation rate of its recipients, and the 15-credit requirement greatly boosts students’ chances of getting a diploma.

In Nevada, only 15 percent of students graduated from a public four-year university on time in 2013 — that’s less than half the national average, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. It has the fourth-lowest ranking in the country, followed by New Mexico, Alaska and the District of Columbia. Completion rates at the state’s two-year colleges are also poor — only 2.8 percent graduated on time in 2013, with only Indiana and Vermont posting worse rates.

“We’re trying to build a case for the state to invest in our students,” said Crystal Abba, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the Nevada System of Higher Education. “When I go back to the Legislature in 2017, I want to talk about our students being close to graduating. We’re investing in the students that we know are going to succeed, and when we get past this, we can revisit the issue of the credit load.”

The Silver State Opportunity Grant, established through Senate Bill 227, is Nevada’s first grant offering financial aid based on need rather than academic achievement. Lawmakers have allotted $2.5 million per fiscal year through 2017 for the grant, which will be offered first-come, first-served to degree-seeking, college-ready students who fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, or FAFSA. Undocumented students who benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and file a FAFSA are eligible for aid.

The opportunity grant, reserved for degree-seeking Nevadans enrolled in a community college or at Nevada State College, calculates the individual needs of recipients considering their incomes, their family’s incomes and any federal aid. The higher education system doesn’t yet know how many students will be selected for the program because funding per student will vary depending on individual needs.

College officials will begin issuing checks later this summer.

“I’m sympathetic to … that student who is determined to finish college but just doesn’t have the resources to finish (on time),” said state Sen. Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas, who co-sponsored SB 227. “But I think it’s also equally important that we invest this money in students who are on track to finish their college education. The last thing we need is to invest this money then have students withdraw from school.”

15 TO FINISH

The push to elevate Nevada college graduation rates isn’t new.

Two years ago, the state’s higher education system launched a promotional campaign encouraging students to bolster their schedules to improve their graduation chances. According to higher education system research, two-year college students in Nevada who take at least 15 credits their first semester have a graduation rate of 23 percent. The graduation rate for students who take fewer than 12 credits is only 3 percent. The rates are based on first-time, degree-seeking students in fall 2008.

The project, dubbed “15 to Finish,” has yielded promising results.

At UNLV, for example, nearly 64 percent of first-time undergraduates seeking degrees enrolled in 15 credits in fall 2014, nearly twice as many compared with 2012. Higher education system data also found that at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 92 percent of students who signed up for at least 15 credits during fall 2014 enrolled in classes the following semester. By comparison, only 75 percent of students who signed up for fewer than a dozen credits re-enrolled.

State officials want to help Nevadans access higher education so they can improve their lives and diversify the state’s economy. The higher education system estimates that by 2020, nearly 60 percent of Nevada’s jobs will require a certificate or college degree.

Officials hope that the Silver State Opportunity Grant will make heavier course loads more realistic for low-income students in Nevada, which is ranked as the least affordable state in the nation for attending college when considering the total cost of attendance as a percentage of median family income.

In 2012, full-time attendance at a two-year institution cost 18.9 percent of the state’s median family income after financial aid, according to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

“All of this ties back to living in a state where the economy is based on low wages,” said Laura Martin, a spokeswoman for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. “This isn’t necessarily a bad bill, but it exposes deeper problems Nevada has where people are in this trap where they don’t have enough to go to college.”

Sotelo-Calderon’s dad buses tables at a local Olive Garden restaurant while her mother cleans houses. The couple barely make ends meet.

“I understand why they are pushing for 15, and I understand that would work for a traditional university student,” Sotelo-Calderon said as she watched her siblings play around their cramped home. “But if you look at a college like mine, we have a lot of students that have families and jobs.”

Although she’s unable to receive federal aid as an undocumented immigrant, Sotelo-Calderon is covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. She hopes Nevada’s decision-makers will remember the challenges she and those like her face as they dole out the opportunity grants.

Sotelo-Calderon ultimately wants the same thing as lawmakers and education officials do, but: “There’s only so much we can do.”

Contact Ana Ley at aley@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Find her on Twitter @la__ley.