An article in the February 21st New York Times focused on the infamous FAFSA - Free Application for Student Aid - the gateway form for getting money for college. The story focused on how terrifying, confusing and frustrating completing the form has become. As with just about everything associated with college, the views of the people interviewed show that change is not going to happen anytime soon.
In my opinion - and the opinion of many others involved in helping families pay for college - the basic premise of need-based financial aid is flawed. Therefore, the system designed to measure the need and then determine how to meet that need is flawed!
What is that flawed premise?
The idea is that (a) everyone should have access to college regardless of ability to pay and (b) if you cannot afford the cost of a particular college, the "system" should fill in the gap between what you can afford and what it costs.
This premise sets up the need to detemine how much you should pay based on your financial situation called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). That means someone has to decide how to measure your ability to pay (EFC) and then set some value or percentage that you should pay before getting outside help.
This also sets up the assumption that someone else will fill in your gap between cost of attendance (COA) and your EFC. That "someone" starts with the government (Federal and State) and then the individual college. What has happened is the need gap is NOT being filled. For too many families, the FAFSA has simply become a loan application!
I have several students with ZERO EFC getting nothing but Federal loans. The get the maximum in loans, grants and work-study but still cannot get close enough to the cost to make college affordable. Unless a college meets 100% of need for all admitted students, families will face gaps as severe as before the premise of need-based aid!
So before we discuss changing the FAFSA, how about revisiting the ENTIRE concept of paying for college! Your comments?
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