The number of students at community colleges applying for some form of federal financial aid increased more than 37 percent from 2001 to 2006, according to an analysis of data compiled by the Institute for College Access and Success. Despite the increase, community-college students are still roughly half as likely as their counterparts at four-year colleges and universities to apply for such aid.

The data, culled from EconomicDiversity.org, show that from the 2000-1 academic year to the 2005-6 academic year, there was a 37.3-percent increase in students at public two-year colleges who completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid form. That compared to a 10.5-percent increase in applications by students at public four-year institutions and a 7.1-percent increase in applications by students at private four-year institutions over the same period.

However, in the 2005-6 academic year, just 34.1 percent of students at public two-year colleges applied for federal aid, compared with 66 percent of students at private four-year institutions and 59.2 percent of students at public four-year colleges and universities.

The Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit organization that advocates making higher education more affordable, has recently focused on pushing more students at community colleges to apply for federal grants, loans, or work-study aid, especially in California.

The group released a report last December calling on financial-aid officers at community colleges to facilitate more access to federal aid. Some recommendations included bilingual services and materials, evening office hours, incentives to complete Fafsa forms, and linking financial-aid applications to college enrollment. —JJ Hermes