<p>This article underscores the fact that students from low-income families, especially those who don’t have parents or counselors to help them navigate the complexities of the financial aid process, are often overwhelmed by it.</p>
<p>Sally, I think so, but I wanted to stress the added frustration for students when parents refuse to complete the fafsa/profile because they refuse to pay for college, and/or they do not want share financial information with schools for whatever reason.</p>
<p>And it’s also true that financial aid officials tend to take a hard line in such cases so that the student is the one who gets caught in the middle and pays the price when the parent is uncooperative.</p>
<p>I have often thought that the fundamental unfairness of the tax code is its complexity. College financial aid is similarly, if not more, complex. At least there is only one tax code. It is not that simple with financial aid. Like calling the IRS for clarification, ask 3 different people an FA question and you may get 3 different answers. I’m a reasonably educated person with an advanced degree ina quantitative field yet it took me the better part of a year to get a grasp on FA, and I still consider myself a student.</p>
<p>For the first child going to college, one needs to understand the aid available through different programs and schools to be able to assess whether going to a particular school, or any school, is even possible. That’s a daunting proposition. Many schools that seem affordable because of a low sticker price (MSRP) are not, while more schools than you think with a high MSRP are affordable because they offer great aid.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What’s worse is when smart, diligent, but relatively poor kids think they are being priced out of college, when they are not. Good counseling is needed early on from someone who knows the college and FA landscape. For any student or parents that do not have such a resource available. I recommend this forum.</p>
<p>Sally, it really isn’t the financial aid officials taking such a hard line, it is Congress. Financial Aid regulations are set forth by Congress and as FAA’s we are faced with 2 decisions: follow the law (even when we completely disagree with it) or risk losing Title IV federal funding for all students. Schools do not have any real wiggle room when a parent refuses to complete the FAFSA or when the parent refuses to accept a parent PLUS loan. is it fair? absolutely not…but the financial aid offices cannot do anything about it…the law is the law. Part of the issue is because parents of substantial means lied to obtain more aid then they should have received. As a result, our hands were tied. It is unfair and depressing but we truly cannot override a parent’s refusal to assist.</p>
<p>I have been on the job in financial aid a whole two days now, and I already have heard the officer in the next cubicle begging students to turn in the info she is requesting. While I realize some of the info is hard to come up with, there are things she is requesting that are not that difficult to gather. The kids simply are not bothering to follow through. I think it’s a combination of a lot of different factors, including those cited above by other posters. Certainly, the financial aid administrators are only doing their jobs, as NiikkiL says. This IS all mandated by Congress and the Department of Education. The info needed is very clearly stated, the rules are clearly written, and the instructions are also very clear. Yes, it’s a pain to get the info. However, the alternative is to just give away the store … and the money simply is not there to support giving money to anyone who wants it.</p>
<p>Story I spent this evening dealing with: first gen, extremely low income new frosh student I met with in my support program. Got very little aid, had taken out all available loans, had borrowed from family members, but couldn’t make the payment plan and was afraid she was going to have to leave school after 2 weeks. Had a conditional Pell, no Jersey TAG grant, and none of this made sense.</p>
<p>I contacted the FA director. Upshot–the student had been selected for verification. Mom, nonHS grad, whose own mother was dying of cancer during FA process (student missed orientation because of death of grandmother), recently unemployed, hadn’t understood what verification entailed. Rather than going around and round to make it clear, school offered market rate loans and a payment plan. It was only through my intervention that the situation was made clear, and the paperwork is hopefully now going into motion to get the student the grants she qualifies for. I’m disappointed the FA office didn’t handle this more diligently, rather than initially shrugging and offering five digit loans.</p>
<p>Like standrews said, sometimes low income students think they are being priced out of college, when really what’s happening is that they and their families are being overwhelmed with complexities they don’t have the education/experience to properly deal with. </p>
<p>For taxpayers who are typically eligible for Federal aid, the IRS already knows 95% of what needs to be filled in on FAFSA from your tax filing. Salary - check, interest - check, number of dependents - check, you get the point. Heck, the IRS runs basic checks against your filing as it is and tells you if you missed something.</p>
<p>How hard would it be once the tax info is entered into the system for a student to walk up to a kiosk, enter in theirs and their parent’s SSNs and with a few more questions asked complete a FAFSA? Wouldn’t even have to show the student the parent’s tax info. Just calculate the number.</p>
<p>Now if the parents are delinquent in tax filing, that is another matter all together. And of course, there are the parents who can’t/won’t contribute to their child’s college expenses, so these problems are not solved.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think the IRS is interested in helping make filing taxes or getting FA easier. It would cost them money - not to mention putting a few CPA’s out of work (no offense to taxguy intended). There is a whole lot of people who benefit from the tax system being less than clean who lobby very effectively to keep the status quo.</p>
<p>I just left the military and started school at a CC. I was accepted to a larger state school, but could not come up with the money up front to start and had to go to CC. My GI Bill is another issue in its self. Not anything what they say it is going be and LOTS OF RED TAPE. I was so overwhelmed at the FA process at the large university and lots of shoulder shrugs and call this number and ask this person run around, I just decided to start at CC, and I am so thankful to myself I did. My wife has her UG form a college in Virginia and has a good enough job where I can go to school full time (by the grace of God.) Just keep your head up and keep going at it. Lots of FA people are just their to get a paycheck, some I have delt with recently have been the biggest help for me and are great. Its all about mindset, remember, if your smart enough for college, your smart enough to find a way to pay for it.</p>
<p>Goaliedad–I agree that sometimes they don’t want to make it easier. The parent of the student I described had filed her taxes properly, so the gov had the information. But every time someone doesn’t get the verification right, that’s gov money saved. And sure, it’s the family’s responsibility, but again, the extra layers of complexity are more likely to bewilder the most vulnerable families, and the gov already has the information it’s asking for.</p>
<p>Every day, I am amazed by what my counselees get through, and it thoroughly puts my own day to day issues into perspective.</p>
<p>(txn–I’ve worked with students who have nearly torn their hair out trying to get their vets benefits for school–I’m so glad you’re making things work despite the obstacles.)</p>
<p>UAlaska has reservations over TEACH. But how is TEACH much different from a private loan? Except UAlaska have to “administer [the program] that ha[s] insane rules”</p>
<p>I know that most of the savvy CC folks are down on financial aid advisers and seminars on a fee basis, but I find that for some families it is the only way that the danged FAFSA and PROFILE can get completed. That is more of a stumbling block than many realize. Some people just cannot fill out forms on a timely basis. Not just the kids either.</p>
<p>^this is true, but pretty much by definition not possible for low income families.</p>
<p>I can’t help my students before they get here, but in the spring, I have FAFSA filling out workshops to be sure their subsequent filings go well. I think high school counselors at some schools offer help. It really is an issue; if some of those of us who are college educated have problems with the danged things, imagine how it is for those with less education and resources?</p>