This school year, many colleges, students, and families are adjusting to a world defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that, in part, means facing new challenges in college affordability. Over the months leading up to this year’s enrollment deadlines, a much broader swath of families and students were burdened with determining whether or not it would be practical to enroll in and attend college, because of geographic restrictions, health concerns, and new financial challenges resulting from job losses or wage reductions.
To assist households as they grappled with these significant uncertainties, many application deadline dates for financial aid and college enrollment were extended. However, only a few states also addressed a major structural barrier built into several state aid programs: the restriction of eligibility based on the age of an applicant, or the length of time out of high school. Ultimately, these restrictions should be eliminated altogether; but even though the current recession makes doing so an unlikely prospect for state budgets, there are other steps that can be taken, policies that are low-cost and immediately effective, that will reduce the impact that the restrictions have.
Age Restrictions on State Aid
Restrictions on state need-based aid limit the applicant pool, and so is often used by states as a cost-saving tool. But limiting the pool of eligibility can hinder students who need the aid the most; and in this case, restrictions on time since leaving high school and age can make students ineligible if they defer enrollment, take a gap year, delay applying, or any of a number of other reasons and situations in which someone might return to school later in life.
Particularly in the midst of a recession, state need-based aid programs can make or break whether many aspiring college students can afford school. Adult students who decided to return to school when opportunity costs were low drove enrollment increases during the Great Recession, and students with the same perspective and motivations may turn to school in large numbers in the next several years. But they may find themselves ineligible for a state aid program if they are too old or graduated too long ago. And even relatively recent high school graduates who delay enrollment plans, including for reasons influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, may similarly find themselves out of luck.
Even relatively recent high school graduates who delay enrollment plans, including for reasons influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, may similarly find themselves out of luck.
So how widespread is this challenge? For each state, as well as for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, TCF looked at the two largest need-based aid programs with at least 100 recipients, and looked for any high school graduation and/or age restrictions that would impact student enrollment due to COVID-19. We also reviewed state promise programs. Tables 1 and 2 below reveal our findings.
While compiling our list of need based programs (using the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) survey and state government websites), we found that while most state need-based aid programs (fifty-six) do not require that applicants attend college within a specific time frame after graduating high school, sixteen programs do have an age or “time out of high school” restriction on need-based aid programs. Table 1 catalogs these details. Here are some examples:
- The Mississippi Higher Education Legislative Plan (HELP) requires students to apply to and qualify for the program within one year of graduating high school. In essence, this program is for students who intend to apply to college in the fall, or college freshmen who are nearing the end of their first year since graduating high school. This restriction is problematic for many students, and especially so during this pandemic, when so many have had to delay starting or returning to school.
- Both the Tennessee ASPIRE Supplement to the HOPE scholarship and Texas’s Toward Excellence, Access, and Success Grant Program (TEXAS Grant) require students to enroll at a college within sixteen months of their high school graduation. It’s easy to see how the pandemic has combined with these restrictions to create situations where many Texas students who otherwise would have been eligible now will not be eligible.
- Several need-based programs also have merit-based components with similar restrictions, such as Connecticut’s Roberta B. Willis Scholarship Program-Need-Merit-Based Grant, Kansas’ State Scholarship, and Michigan’s Competitive Scholarship. California’s Cal Grant High School Entitlement Awards, for example, provides generous aid to low- and middle-income students who meet certain thresholds, but students are only entitled to the award if they enroll within a year after high school—otherwise they enter a more limited, and more competitive, pool. For programs that have an immediate post-high school enrollment requirement, the accompanying merit components may add an additional pandemic-related hurdle.
Similarly, Table 2 reveals that many state promise programs, which cover the “sticker price” of college—tuition—and which often utilize a “last dollar” model (meaning that the funds are awarded after other aid such as Pell Grants and other specific aid has been applied), have these restrictions. For example, programs in Oregon, Rhode Island, and Missouri also require enrollment immediately after, or soon after, high school. In total, twelve programs limit enrollment by age.
It is important to note that many merit-based state financial aid programs also have age or time out of high school restrictions, though we did not compile a full list. Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship, for example, limits eligibility for students seven or ten years after first receiving the scholarship. Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship requires students to apply within forty-eight months of graduating high school, which implies a specific age limit, given that the program is designed for those who have recently graduated and not for students who acquire a GED later on.
Lifting Restrictions
Some states have taken important steps to address the challenges that these restrictions create when combined with the pandemic. Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), for example, extended their application deadline date from August 31, 2020 to August 31, 2021 (later eliminating the application process altogether for the class of 2021, though students still need to enroll within four years, and Maryland extended their Howard P. Rawlings Guaranteed Access Grant from April 1 to June 1. Other states can follow suit by extending application deadline dates, but may also want to consider a broader restructuring of their eligibility limits.
Increasing eligibility by one or two more years will at least allow students whose lives have been up-ended a chance at getting the support they need.
While removing these limits entirely is advisable in the long run, it is an unlikely pathway during a recession that has decimated state budgets. However, increasing eligibility by one or two more years will at least allow students whose lives have been up-ended a chance at getting the support they need.
table 1
State Need-based Financial Aid Programs |
State |
Program Name |
After High School and/or Age Restriction |
Total Dollars Disbursed in 2017–18 |
Number of Recipients in 2017–18 |
Alabama |
Alabama G.I. Dependent Scholarship Program |
Prior to 26, some exceptions to 30 |
$88,088,413 |
9,771 |
Alabama |
Alabama Student Assistance Program |
No |
$2,805,633 |
4,216 |
Alaska |
Alaska Education Grant |
No |
$5,865,251 |
2,539 |
Arizona |
AFAT (Arizona Financial Aid Trust) |
No |
$26,566,806 |
9,275 |
Arizona |
AZLEAP |
No |
$2,319,500 |
3,015 |
Arkansas |
Higher Education Opportunities Grant Program |
Program is “sunsetting” |
$3,463,613 |
10,186 |
California |
Cal Grant A |
Entitlement awards: Current High school seniors and last year’s high school graduates
Competitive awards: Merit-based |
$1,168,628,468 |
119,928 |
California |
Cal Grant B |
$926,633,768 |
242,739 |
Colorado |
Colorado Student Grant |
No |
$118,550,529 |
56,785 |
Colorado |
Colorado Graduate Grant |
No |
$8,994,377 |
1,842 |
Connecticut |
Roberta B. Willis Scholarship Program-Need Based Grant |
No |
$24,410,610 |
9,293 |
Connecticut |
Roberta B. Willis Scholarship Program-Need-Merit Based Grant |
High school senior or graduate with a high school junior year class rank of 20% or better and/or SAT scores of at least 1200 or ACT score of at least 25 |
$10,341,759 |
2,143 |
Delaware |
Scholarship Incentive Program |
No |
$807,240 |
732 |
Delaware |
University of Delaware General Fund Scholarships |
Specific to institutions |
$3,292,800 |
878 |
Florida |
Florida Student Assistance Grant Public |
No |
$234,005,505 |
166,935 |
Florida |
Florida Student Assistance Grant Private |
No |
$24,794,485 |
17,096 |
Georgia |
Merit-based only |
Hawaii |
Hawaii B Plus Scholarship |
Graduated from a State of Hawaii public high school after 2005 |
$3,003,500 |
1,407 |
Idaho |
Opportunity Scholarship |
No |
$11,585,371 |
3,521 |
Illinois |
Monetary Award Program |
No |
$392,476,945 |
129,517 |
Illinois |
Higher Education License Plate (HELP) Program |
No |
$96,700 |
387 |
Indiana |
Indiana Higher Education Award & Freedom of Choice Grants |
No |
$176,843,786 |
40,795 |
Iowa |
Iowa Tuition Grant Program- Not-for-Profit |
No |
$46,308,834 |
10,064 |
Iowa |
Skilled Workforce Shortage Tuition Grant |
No |
$5,127,022 |
4,453 |
Kansas |
Kansas Comprehensive Grant |
No |
$15,758,338 |
8,770 |
Kansas |
Kansas State Scholarship |
Be a state scholar senior year, and a current high school senior or graduate |
$770,578 |
770 |
Kentucky |
College Access Program (CAP) Grant |
No |
$73,406,299 |
48,312 |
Kentucky |
Kentucky Tuition Grant |
No |
$29,699,922 |
11,624 |
Louisiana |
Louisiana Go Grants |
Each participating institution has a packaging policy with priority for students aged 25 and over |
$26,416,008 |
23,078 |
Maine |
Maine State Grant Program |
No |
$14,513,650 |
12,580 |
Maryland |
Howard P. Rawlings Educational Assistance Grant |
High school seniors |
$51,570,025 |
23,149 |
Maryland |
Howard P. Rawlings Guaranteed Access Grant |
High school seniors: under 22 when graduating high school
GED recipients: under 26 by the time receiving first award |
$30,080,874 |
2,180 |
Massachusetts |
MASSGrant |
No |
$47,876,551 |
46,911 |
Massachusetts |
Massachusetts Access Grant |
No |
$25,460,254 |
29,879 |
Michigan |
Michigan Competitive Scholarship |
Students must provide their Social Security number to MI Student Aid by their senior year in high school, achieve the qualifying SAT by June after their senior year, and must enroll within ten years after high school. |
$36,544,263 |
34,413 |
Michigan |
Tuition Incentive Program |
Students must enroll at a college within 4 years of a high school degree or equivalent.
TIP eligibility ends 10 years from the date of enrollment: “Obtain a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent prior to age 20.
Students who attend a state-approved Early/Middle College have until age 21 to graduate and complete a TIP application” |
$55,462,465 |
22,595 |
Minnesota |
MN State Grant |
No |
$194,019,217 |
80,793 |
Minnesota |
Post-Secondary Child Care Grant |
No |
$4,699,700 |
1,884 |
Mississippi |
MS Higher Ed. Legislative Plan |
Applicants must apply and qualify for HELP within one year of high school graduation |
$19,664,346 |
3,357 |
Missouri |
Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program |
No |
$63,753,115 |
42,587 |
Montana |
State SEOG Match |
No |
$458,160 |
n/a |
Nebraska |
Nebraska Opportunity Grant |
No |
$17,392,498 |
12,849 |
Nevada |
Nevada Student Access Grants/Scholarships |
No |
$8,939,255 |
6,472 |
Nevada |
Silver State Opportunity Grant (SSOG) |
No |
$4,146,606 |
1,694 |
New Hampshire |
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation provides scholarships with no age limit |
New Jersey |
Tuition Aid Grant |
No |
$426,727,000 |
67,159 |
New Jersey |
Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Article III Undergraduate |
No |
$27,572,048 |
13,000 |
New Mexico |
NM State Student Incentive Grant |
No |
$10,510,163 |
15,186 |
New Mexico |
College Affordability Grant |
No |
n/a |
n/a |
New York |
Tuition Assistance Program |
No |
$923,964,000 |
278,531 |
New York |
NYS Aid for Part-Time Study |
No |
$9,804,000 |
11,250 |
North Carolina |
UNC Need Based Grant |
No |
$123,672,458 |
50,154 |
North Carolina |
NC Need Based Scholarship |
No |
$88,138,300 |
22,368 |
North Dakota |
North Dakota State Student Incentive Grant Program |
No |
$10,051,475 |
5,876 |
North Dakota |
North Dakota Indian Scholarship-Need |
No |
$147,009 |
128 |
Ohio |
Ohio College Opportunity Grant Program |
No |
$102,023,190 |
69,454 |
Oklahoma |
Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant |
No |
$11,940,760 |
13,318 |
Oregon |
Oregon Opportunity Grant |
No |
$68,138,064 |
39,352 |
Pennsylvania |
Pennsylvania State Grant Program |
No |
$370,878,066 |
147,412 |
Puerto Rico |
Undergraduate Supplementary Aid |
No |
$5,419,984 |
11,518 |
Rhode Island |
Rhode Island State Grant Program |
No |
$10,031,465 |
11,485 |
South Carolina |
SC Need-based Grant |
No |
$30,203,354 |
31,174 |
South Carolina |
SC Tuition Grants Program |
No |
$39,476,386 |
13,588 |
South Dakota |
South Dakota Need Based Grant Program |
No |
$204,065 |
354 |
Tennessee |
Tennessee Student Assistance Award |
No |
$89,695,476 |
62,267 |
Tennessee |
ASPIRE Supplement to the HOPE Scholarship |
Must enroll within 16 months following high school graduation at any postsecondary institution. |
$21,109,915 |
18,848 |
Texas |
TEXAS Grant |
High School Graduation Pathway: 16th month after high school graduation
Associate Degree Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution prior to the end of the 12th month after the calendar month in which the student earned an associate degree from a public or private nonprofit Texas institution of higher education
Honorable Military Discharge Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution of higher education within 12 months after being honorably discharged from military service. Enlistment in the military must have occurred within 12 months after graduation from an accredited public or private high school in Texas on May 1, 2013 or later
Transfer Pathway: Completion of at least 24 semester credit hours with a minimum 2.5 GPA after receiving a Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG) in fall 2014 or later and transferring to an eligible institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA |
$383,508,160 |
76,801 |
Texas |
Designated Tuition- Grants |
High School Graduation Pathway: 16th month after high school graduation
Associate Degree Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution prior to the end of the 12th month after the calendar month in which the student earned an associate degree from a public or private nonprofit Texas institution of higher education
Honorable Military Discharge Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution of higher education within 12 months after being honorably discharged from military service. Enlistment in the military must have occurred within 12 months after graduation from an accredited public or private high school in Texas on May 1, 2013 or later
Transfer Pathway: Completion of at least 24 semester credit hours with a minimum 2.5 GPA after receiving a Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG) in fall 2014 or later and transferring to an eligible institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA |
$249,961,318 |
106,242 |
Utah |
Utah Higher Education Success Stipend Program (HESSP) |
No |
$2,445,572 |
2,609 |
Vermont |
Vermont Incentive Grant |
No |
$15,305,474 |
8,122 |
Vermont |
VT Part-Time Grant |
No |
$1,354,594 |
2,778 |
Virginia |
VSFAP-Virginia Commonwealth Award |
No |
$101,254,043 |
51,196 |
Virginia |
Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program |
No |
$87,056,948 |
18,291 |
Washington |
Washington State Need Grant Program |
No |
$299,028,176 |
68,764 |
Washington, DC |
Mayors Scholars Undergraduate Program |
A graduate of a public high school in the District of Columbia (including DCPS and public charters), within the years 2011–2020 OR
An older youth or adult learner who passed the GED or earned a diploma through the National External Diploma Program (NEDP), within the years 201-2020 |
$993,831 |
287 |
West Virginia |
West Virginia Higher Education Grant Program |
No |
$38,969,119 |
16,887 |
West Virginia |
Higher Education Adult Part-Time Program |
No |
$4,195,589 |
3,478 |
Wisconsin |
Wisconsin Grant-UW |
No |
$60,234,977 |
29,622 |
Wisconsin |
Wisconsin Grant-Private Nonprofit |
No |
$27,566,628 |
9,993 |
Wyoming |
Hathaway Scholarship |
Apply for the Hathaway Scholarship within 48 months of your graduation date
Home school graduates have until the age of 21 to apply for the Hathaway Scholarship |
$17,645,846 |
5,939 |
Table 2
State Promise Programs |
State |
Program Name |
After High School and/or Age Restriction |
Arkansas |
Arkansas Future Grant |
No |
California |
California College Promise Grant |
Institution decides |
Delaware |
Delaware Tech Student Excellence Equals Degree |
1 year after high school |
Hawaii |
Hawaii Promise Program |
No |
Indiana |
21st Century Scholar |
Enroll in the 7th or 8th grade at an Indiana public or private school, and apply within1 year after high school graduation |
Indiana |
Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grant |
No |
Kentucky |
Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship |
No |
Louisiana |
Taylor Opportunity Program for Students |
1 year after high school |
Maryland |
Maryland’s Community College Promise Program |
No |
Missouri |
A+ Program |
4 years after high school |
Minnesota |
University of Minnesota Promise Scholarship |
No |
Mississippi |
Mississippi State Promise Program |
1 year after high school |
Nevada |
Nevada Promise Scholarship |
1 year after high school/GED prior to 20 years of age |
New Jersey |
New Jersey Community College Opportunity Grant |
No |
New York |
The Excelsior Scholarship |
No |
Oklahoma |
Oklahoma’s Promise |
Enroll in 8th, 9th, or 10th grade |
Oregon |
Oregon Promise |
Recent high school graduate/GED |
Rhode Island |
Rhode Island Promise |
Recent high school graduate/GED under 19 years of age |
Tennessee |
Tennessee Promise |
Recent high school graduate/GED prior to 19 years of age |
Tennessee |
Tennessee Reconnect Grant |
Older than 24 years old/independent |
Washington |
Washington College Grant (formerly State Need Grant) |
No |
West Virginia |
West Virginia Promise |
2 years after high school |
Tags: financial aid, college affordability, covid-19, higher education
The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Age-Restricted Financial Aid
This school year, many colleges, students, and families are adjusting to a world defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that, in part, means facing new challenges in college affordability. Over the months leading up to this year’s enrollment deadlines, a much broader swath of families and students were burdened with determining whether or not it would be practical to enroll in and attend college, because of geographic restrictions, health concerns, and new financial challenges resulting from job losses or wage reductions.
To assist households as they grappled with these significant uncertainties, many application deadline dates for financial aid and college enrollment were extended. However, only a few states also addressed a major structural barrier built into several state aid programs: the restriction of eligibility based on the age of an applicant, or the length of time out of high school. Ultimately, these restrictions should be eliminated altogether; but even though the current recession makes doing so an unlikely prospect for state budgets, there are other steps that can be taken, policies that are low-cost and immediately effective, that will reduce the impact that the restrictions have.
Age Restrictions on State Aid
Restrictions on state need-based aid limit the applicant pool, and so is often used by states as a cost-saving tool. But limiting the pool of eligibility can hinder students who need the aid the most; and in this case, restrictions on time since leaving high school and age can make students ineligible if they defer enrollment, take a gap year, delay applying, or any of a number of other reasons and situations in which someone might return to school later in life.
Particularly in the midst of a recession, state need-based aid programs can make or break whether many aspiring college students can afford school. Adult students who decided to return to school when opportunity costs were low drove enrollment increases during the Great Recession, and students with the same perspective and motivations may turn to school in large numbers in the next several years. But they may find themselves ineligible for a state aid program if they are too old or graduated too long ago. And even relatively recent high school graduates who delay enrollment plans, including for reasons influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, may similarly find themselves out of luck.
So how widespread is this challenge? For each state, as well as for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, TCF looked at the two largest need-based aid programs with at least 100 recipients, and looked for any high school graduation and/or age restrictions that would impact student enrollment due to COVID-19. We also reviewed state promise programs. Tables 1 and 2 below reveal our findings.1
While compiling our list of need based programs (using the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP) survey and state government websites), we found that while most state need-based aid programs (fifty-six) do not require that applicants attend college within a specific time frame after graduating high school, sixteen programs do have an age or “time out of high school” restriction on need-based aid programs. Table 1 catalogs these details. Here are some examples:
Similarly, Table 2 reveals that many state promise programs, which cover the “sticker price” of college—tuition—and which often utilize a “last dollar” model (meaning that the funds are awarded after other aid such as Pell Grants and other specific aid has been applied), have these restrictions. For example, programs in Oregon, Rhode Island, and Missouri also require enrollment immediately after, or soon after, high school. In total, twelve programs limit enrollment by age.
It is important to note that many merit-based state financial aid programs also have age or time out of high school restrictions, though we did not compile a full list.4 Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship, for example, limits eligibility for students seven or ten years5 after first receiving the scholarship. Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship6 requires students to apply within forty-eight months of graduating high school, which implies a specific age limit, given that the program is designed for those who have recently graduated and not for students who acquire a GED later on.
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Lifting Restrictions
Some states have taken important steps to address the challenges that these restrictions create when combined with the pandemic. Michigan’s Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), for example, extended their application deadline date from August 31, 2020 to August 31, 2021 (later eliminating the application process altogether for the class of 2021, though students still need to enroll within four years, and Maryland extended their Howard P. Rawlings Guaranteed Access Grant from April 1 to June 1. Other states can follow suit by extending application deadline dates, but may also want to consider a broader restructuring of their eligibility limits.
While removing these limits entirely is advisable in the long run, it is an unlikely pathway during a recession that has decimated state budgets. However, increasing eligibility by one or two more years will at least allow students whose lives have been up-ended a chance at getting the support they need.
table 1
Competitive awards: Merit-based
GED recipients: under 26 by the time receiving first award
TIP eligibility ends 10 years from the date of enrollment: “Obtain a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent prior to age 20.
Students who attend a state-approved Early/Middle College have until age 21 to graduate and complete a TIP application”
Associate Degree Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution prior to the end of the 12th month after the calendar month in which the student earned an associate degree from a public or private nonprofit Texas institution of higher education
Honorable Military Discharge Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution of higher education within 12 months after being honorably discharged from military service. Enlistment in the military must have occurred within 12 months after graduation from an accredited public or private high school in Texas on May 1, 2013 or later
Transfer Pathway: Completion of at least 24 semester credit hours with a minimum 2.5 GPA after receiving a Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG) in fall 2014 or later and transferring to an eligible institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA
Associate Degree Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution prior to the end of the 12th month after the calendar month in which the student earned an associate degree from a public or private nonprofit Texas institution of higher education
Honorable Military Discharge Pathway: Enrollment in an eligible institution of higher education within 12 months after being honorably discharged from military service. Enlistment in the military must have occurred within 12 months after graduation from an accredited public or private high school in Texas on May 1, 2013 or later
Transfer Pathway: Completion of at least 24 semester credit hours with a minimum 2.5 GPA after receiving a Texas Educational Opportunity Grant (TEOG) in fall 2014 or later and transferring to an eligible institution with a minimum 2.5 GPA
An older youth or adult learner who passed the GED or earned a diploma through the National External Diploma Program (NEDP), within the years 201-2020
Home school graduates have until the age of 21 to apply for the Hathaway Scholarship
Table 2
Notes
Tags: financial aid, college affordability, covid-19, higher education