Sunday, February 24, 2013
Federal Application for Student Financial Aid
The Federal Application for Student Financial Aid (FASFA) is medium length application that each college student's parents fill out in order for their student to receive federal aid from the government for college. This application asks things like what is you gross income or how many kids do you have, and how many are in college, are you married, divorced? The application does a good job at asking the basic financial questions, but that is all it asks, the basics. After you fill out this BASIC application, they make a decision about how much money you get for college. They don't want you to go into detail on any of these questions. They don't ask you to explain any part of your financial situation. Most of the questions asked are yes or no or enter the number here questions. Decisions about whether or not a student can go to college due to their financial situation CANNOT be made like this. You can't make decisions that are this important that quickly with such little information. My opinion is that there needs to be a more lengthy application that asks more in depth questions and gives the applicant the option to explain. I even think that a short essay wouldn't hurt on this application. People are applying for federal money to go to school, loans and grants. People should have to do a little work on this application in order to get the money anyways. If there was an essay people could explain there situations and the decision wouldn't be made in regards to a number but a person with a story of why they need money. Numbers don't always tell the whole story.
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Rachel, this post really hits home to me. I actually filled out my FASFA this morning before I went to work. Last year all I got were loans, and I am positive that is all I am going to get this year. They look at numbers, and assume my family makes enough to put me through school. I remember filling it out before this school year started. My dad had been laid off for the past three years, but had found a new one that year. We had just built a house right before my dad was laid off. During that three years, we got pretty far into debt. However, because my dad made money the year I went off to college, the government did not care about how much financial trouble we were trying to get ourselves out of. Because of this, I agree completely that numbers do not always tell the whole story. Nowhere in that form did I have the chance to explain any of this. I also think that a short essay would greatly help out students with similar problems.
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