The FAFSA/CSS-PROFILE trap

Leonard
Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:18:16 +0000

Just FYI for those interested…

I’ve just spoken with a financial aid officer at what I’ll call Very Prestigious U, one that I’ve not posted about in CC. (Not that I’m a believer in ths stuff, but just for reference, persistently placed a good bit above Rice in national rankings.)

It turns out that the person I spoke with was quite aware that FAFSA (etc.) can distort, cannot possibly fit each and every case, and so on. I mentioned that “We meet financial need” didn’t always refer to real-world need, to which the response was yes, we realize that, and it’s unfortunate, “our approach is to view the students that we admit as being our students, and it’s our job to help them.” This person very much welcomed being able to glean accurate and helpful information directly from the parent, and was very willing to review the case.

Which brings this back full circle to my original query. Depending on your individual case, you may not be doomed to falling irretrievably into the FAFSA trap. Those who find that the “official” figures misrepresent reality should not fear getting in touch with financial aid officers. Different universities may treat you very differently, I don’t know. But the experience I just had was a very helpful discussion for mutual benefit, with the result that once our financial situation was clarified, aid was immediately doubled, and an effort is being made to quadruple it.