How applying for financial aid just got easier for college students
In an effort to make college more accessible to low-income families, the Obama administration is launching a new initiative to streamline the process of applying for federal student aid.
Starting next fall, aspiring college students will be able to access the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form in October rather than January. They also can electronically retrieve and use the prior year's tax information, instead of waiting until the current year鈥檚 tax returns have been filed and processed. Under the current system, students find themselves with college acceptance letters that they don't yet know if they can pay for.
The changes will not only reduce 鈥減aperwork burdens for students and costs for colleges,鈥� but they will also allow students to apply for aid 鈥渨hen or even before they apply to college,鈥� Lauren Asher, president of The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), told .
The changes, part of a week-long effort by the administration to highlight higher education reform, are intended to work alongside the revamped College Scorecard website to provide families and students with better and more complete information about the costs and benefits of a college education. The would help get financial aid to more low-income students, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters Monday.
鈥淕etting the form filled out earlier will make a real difference for students who think they can鈥檛 afford college,鈥� said Secretary Duncan, who with President Obama announced the new regulations Monday at a town hall meeting in Des Moines, Iowa. 鈥淲e believe literally hundreds of thousands of additional students will actually gain access to critical student aid each year.鈥�
Some high-caliber students don't apply to elite colleges because they assume they can't afford the price tag, he added. "Many elite colleges have larger endowments and can offer more financial aid," he said. "We think some of that under-matching will go away."
As of 2013, tuition at the most expensive private four-year colleges cost close to $50,000 a year 鈥� not including room and board, according to a 海角大神 Science Monitor report. At the same time, tuition and fees at four-year public institutions rose by 5.2 percent annually between 2002 and 2013, according to by The Institute for College Access and Success.
The result is that for millions of students, receiving financial aid is a crucial condition for going to college. The federal government and colleges use the FAFSA form to determine eligibility for aid, and students who submit their forms earlier have a better chance of qualifying because some schools and award aid on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds run out.
But the process can be problematic. While students wait for their parents鈥� tax returns, they must delay completing the form 鈥� at the expense of grants they may have qualified for. The form also consists of more than 100 detailed questions, making it 鈥渁n enormous barrier,鈥� especially for low-income families and first-generation college students, says Mandy Savitz-Romer, faculty director of the Prevention Science and Practice program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an onerous form鈥� [and] families who have not been to college themselves have a more difficult time completing it,鈥� she says.
About 2 million students who would have qualified for a federal Pell Grant in 2011 to 2012 did not file the FAFSA, many of them saying they assumed they were ineligible, lacked information about how to apply, or thought the forms were too much work, according to by student financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz, senior vice president and publisher of Edvisors.com.
With the online form, IRS retrieval will prefill questions for applicants, and skip logic helps them bypass other questions that don't apply to their situations.
鈥淭he prior-year tax information is going to be extremely helpful,鈥� says Jillian Kelton, director of student services at TechBoston Academy, a pilot school for grades 6 to 12 in Dorchester, Mass.
Making the form available three months earlier also gives students more time to consult with school counselors and staff, Professor Savitz-Romer notes.
As with any policy change, challenges exist.
鈥淎ny new tool is only as effective as the people on the ground who are using it,鈥� Savitz-Romer says.
That means schools need to explain to staff what the changes mean for their students. Such efforts require 鈥渢hinking differently so that [the policy] can have the profound impact it鈥檚 designed to have,鈥� she says.
Still, she says, it鈥檚 鈥渁 tremendous step forward.鈥�
Duncan did not provide a figure for how much the FAFSA changes will cost, but said the administration expects Pell Grant costs to rise by about 1 percent, or $400 million, once the changes go into effect and more students apply, .
