<p>Thought I'd like to share this information:</p>
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The Department of Education has issued an advisory to college financial aid officers around the country urging them to give more help to students from families suffering from the recession.
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Federal officials on April 2 asked colleges to contact parents who might have lost their jobs and remind them that they have the right to appeal for more financial aid because of "special circumstances."
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Students or parents who got into economic trouble last year can even file an appeal retroactively to see if they now qualify for aid for the semester that started in September of 2008.
<p>Now, more than ever, parents and students should explain job losses and other extenuating circumstances to financial aid officials. However, as in the past, recognize that the aid-appeals process can be subjective, meaning that many officials have a fair amount of latitude when deciding who gets an adjusted aid package and who doesn’t. So, when communicating with aid officials, always be sure to sound appreciative, never entitled. Also be as specific as possible about your new needs. Be willing to provide documentation, if required.</p>
<p>As an international student, I feel that in times like these, international students requesting for aid become more and more disadvantaged in the admission game. The colleges are providing these aids to domestic students by (usually) reducing their budget for international financial aid and this act is reducing the chance for poorer and deserving intl students from attending an US college.</p>
<p>misto- Sorry, but colleges exist to make a profit. Also, for State Universities and Colleges, in staters pay the taxes which help fund the programs. I know it stinks but colleges have priorities too.</p>
<p>If my parent just lost their job should I call up the admissions office and ask them to consider that?
Do you think that information might cause them to reevaluate my financial aid?</p>
<p>BG - Definitely! Be prepared to document the job loss. If they got a severance package, it might not make a difference in your EFC for awhile though.</p>
<p>my dad just lost his job
I sent an email to all of the fin aid offices and I have received all positive feedback
They are very apologetic and said that they will reconsider the efc
be warned that they do ask for documentation to verify the situation</p>
<p>Misto, sorry to sound like an ass, but if you can’t afford to come to America to go to college, you should go to college in your own country. These places are businesses and offer services intended for Americans, not for international students. You cannot give them what they need (meaning money), and aren’t who they’re supposed to help, then you’re just out of luck.</p>
reducing the chance for poorer and deserving intl students from attending an US college.
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In these circumstances, the meaning of “deserving” changes (assuming the word has any legitimate use at all). A critical use of poor international superlatives is the superlative awards that they win, maintaining the university’s reputation in some way. (They are also expected to donate loyally after graduation, but that is less immediate).
An international whose standards are easily found among the domestic population is not a “deserving” individual (again, assuming the word has any legitimate use at all). And many sources, like MIT’s admissions blog etc, will declare flat out that it is the private discretion of the university, for its own benefit, and the only the best are even in the ballpark. This is coming from a poor international. I don’t think “deserving” is an appropriate word here.</p>
<p>instate schools should “prefer” instate students, however, if they’re not filled with instaters they should view outofstates and internationals the same way, especially if they’re private</p>
<p>Instate prefer instate students
National prefer national students, within their country</p>
<p>If one starts a world school that would be great, but as of now, they are all national. Plus we DO live in a society which practices a more realism type of approach.</p>
<p>Oh, look! The government is doing it’s part to help parents afford the cost of higher education by doing absolutely nothing - </p>
<p>So the government gets off the hook by saying “give 'em more.” And aid officers are NOT ALLOWED to set a policy on how to handle special circumstances such as job loss. So each school must review each case individually & try to figure out just how to adjust income. Rarely does it result in a Pell eligible EFC for those who were not Pell eligible to start with. So the net result very well will NOT be increased federal aid. </p>
<p>So is this carte blanche for aid officers to adjust expected income to 0??? Until we hear a definite yes from the feds, doubtful. </p>
<p>I think maybe the Feds mean that there needs to be some endowment dipping going on. Kelsmon, I do not envy your job. Do you have any leverage that would put people’s agi under 50K which could reduce their EFC by the asset portion and in some cases that would qualify that family for some Pell grant. </p>
<p>Here’s the thing, once you are over Pell grant qualifications, for every dollar the EFC is lowered, that leaves a dollar of unmet need. I really think the Feds are wanting schools to spend some of their OWN money.</p>
<p>Just think how many kids could have gotten money if the amount of college endowments that lost value had gone to students instead of being a balance sheet loss. I’m actually a little surprised at how much the losses were. I would have thought that colleges wouldn’t have had their money in risky (ie stock market) investments.</p>
<p>I agree, kelsmom. The recession is going to take an incredible toll on higher education, and all the government is really doing is giving a suggestion. The cost of education keeps rising, so either more people will enroll in state schools (causing selectivity to go up, since I assume even they have limited resources), or even more families are going to be buried in debt after 4 years of just undergrad education. I have to wonder what affect this will have on the economy, work force, etc in the long run (if it will have one). Might this situation cause the government to subsidize college further? Wouldn’t this be a fantastic time for Obama to implement his tax credit-community service exchange for college students? When will that happen?</p>
<p>I consider myself lucky to attend a college whose endowment was little hurt by the recession. <em>knock on wood</em> My dad lost his job before we did the FAFSA, and my mom’s job has been cut from 5 to 4 days a week. With so many lay-offs, I wonder if fnancial aid offices will have the time or resources to consider a loss of hours in decisions as well.</p>
<p>True, it’s probably not going to help families where the unaffected breadwinner’s income is over $50K. But for those who’s higher income parent is laid off or those who had an efc within a few thousand of eligibility, this could mean the difference between having to postpone college, or attend a CC instead of a 4 year. It would have been nice if they’d offer the schools some funding for additional FA people/hours to help with what might become a deluge of requests for review:)</p>
<p>The article contains words like “urge,” “encourage,” and “judgment.” It does not use words like “require” or “mandate.” The advisory will probably have very little effect.</p>
<p>At some point, presidents of the richest colleges will be called to testify before Congress to explain why they continue to sit on hundreds of millions (or in some cases, billions) of dollars while turning away students who need a few measly thousand. There will be much harumphing and threatening, and in the end the presidents will go home with their endowments intact.</p>
<p>LasMa, they have been called on this a number of times and it’s been studied in Committee as well. I believe the College Opp & Affordability Act passed in 2008 tied some kind of grant to colleges to their tuition increase rates, but it seems nothing can really be done about endowments that would be fair and sensible to the small schools as well as the giants. I viewed this letter as a call to schools to make sure they were utilizing every federal program and dollar available to help families. If it means the need goes up as a result and the gap affects their stats, oh well.</p>