Giving Compass' Take:

· Recently, three panelists gathered in San Francisco to discuss college affordability and financial aid. EdSurge provides a recap on the event and the insight the panelists provided regarding student readiness and ways to navigate funding for college.

· Tuition is roughly five times the cost it was in 1985 due to cuts in funding. What financial aid is available for students and what can nonprofits to to support it?

· Learn how states can make college more affordable.

College is expensive. But what does that mean — and how are schools, startups and nonprofits trying to make higher-ed a more affordable option to students?

Three panelists gathered recently in San Francisco to discuss challenges around rising costs of college as well as what’s being done about one of the most difficult issues facing students and families today. The panelists were Jaclyn Piñero, Executive Director, Bay Area at uAspire; Katherine Zellner, Director of University Partnerships at RaiseMe and Nathan Ranney, Director of Product at Moneythink.

Tuition at four-year public institutions over the last 40 years has gone from $3,680 a year in 1985 to nearly $18,632 in 2015, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. And as of 2016, about 82 percent of full time, first-time students receive financial aid—up 10 percent from 2001.

On why college has grown increasingly unaffordable, Ranney explained that states have largely decreased the amount of funding they provide to colleges, which has translated into tuition hikes and higher prices falling on students. He added that this has been different state-by-state.

As for what can be done to help students navigate college affordability, Piñero said it’s important to get students thinking about college early. She described how some students that her nonprofit works with will arrive with good grades and “other markers” to be eligible to attend a UC, and yet they didn’t know they needed to also take the SAT. “[College is] completely shut off for them,” she said.

And even after students have completed the application process and are accepted, Piñero added, many don’t make it to campus in the fall of their freshman year, a phenomenon known as “summer melt.”

Simply knowing what financial aid options are available can be a game-changer for students affording and attending college. Zellner shared that some students see high sticker prices for tuition, and don’t realize what aid or merit scholarships are available. It’s important to inform students as early as middle school about “what it takes to be admissible and eligible for aid.”

Read the full article about hacking college affordability by Tina Nazerian at EdSurge.