PNPI Announces Need Analysis Boot Camp Scholarship Recipients

Washington, D.C.- January 8, 2021– The Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI) is happy to announce the three recipients of our 2021 Virtual Need Analysis Boot Camp scholarships: Janice Le, Paula Nazario, and Nataly Morales Villa. PNPI offered three registration scholarships to select students who demonstrated both an interest in federal higher education policy and financial need.

PNPI’s prospective policymaker boot camps provide participants with foundational knowledge of federal higher education issues that they will be able to draw from as they move forward in their postsecondary careers. Participants represent think tanks, higher education institutions, non-profits, and the federal government, and also include graduate students, early-career professionals, and seasoned researchers and policy analysts. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Janice, Paula, and Nataly to join other policy professionals and PNPI staff at our boot camp. We hope they leave with a firm grounding in how student need is assessed when calculating federal student aid, and with an understanding that their input and perspective is needed and valued in the federal education policy space,” said Betsy Prueter, Chief of Staff, PNPI.     

“Our hope is that our scholarship recipients will use the time they spend with us to not only take in new information, but network with policy professionals and meet their future colleagues. We hope that they leave with an eye on returning to Washington to shape future policy decisions,” said MaryEllen McGuire, President, PNPI. 

Since the boot camps were launched in 2016, PNPI has awarded over 20 boot camp scholarships to students from colleges across the country.

Read more about the three scholarship recipients below. 

Janice Le, University of Michigan

Janice Le was born and raised in the Bay Area in an unincorporated community known as Ashland. As a first-generation and low-income student, she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018 and is currently a Master of Public Policy candidate at the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her personal experiences navigating higher education and professional experiences as a college adviser have furthered her commitment to changing the educational outcomes of low-income, first-generation students of color. Janice aspires to become a holistic advocate for underrepresented students and hopes to pursue a career in research and program evaluation where she can identify problems and implement large-scale solutions for addressing the needs of and expanding access in education to first-generation, low-income students of color. 

Paula Nazario, University of California, Los Angeles 

As a first-generation student, Paula Nazario found it challenging to find resources in her community that would enable her to apply to college. However, with the support of her family and local non-profit centers, she was the first in her family to graduate from college. Paula encountered several challenges with navigating the college application process and experienced imposter syndrome throughout college. These experiences motivated her to mentor and advise low-income students in her own community. Nonetheless, Paula witnessed more barriers in college access from the lens of students, teachers, and high school counselors, which only reaffirmed her decision to advocate for underserved youth in her community. She has a strong interest in higher education policy, with the hope of increasing college access and making higher education affordable to low-income youth. She is currently a first-year Master of Public Policy student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Nataly Morales Villa, Harvard University 

Nataly Morales Villa was born in Durango, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States when she was five. She graduated from the University of North Georgia in 2019 with a bachelor’s in political science and Spanish. As an undergraduate student she was accepted to the McNair Scholars Program where she conducted research on Hispanic Serving Institutions. She studied abroad in Spain and Peru as a Gilman and HSF Scholar. Being a first-generation college student has influenced her research interests in college access for Latinx students, bilingual education, educational equity for undocumented students, and diversity and inclusion. She is currently a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education enrolled in the Higher Education Program.  

About the Postsecondary National Policy Institute

The Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI) is the leading source of professional development for current and prospective policymakers who work on higher education issues. PNPI’s professional development briefings and seminars provide participants with an opportunity to consider a full range of higher education topics, while engaging in constructive dialogue with postsecondary leaders, researchers, and their colleagues. PNPI also publishes featured reports, issue primers, and factsheets that highlight recent research on postsecondary issues to keep current and prospective policymakers informed.