<p>It is not the college or FAFSA (FAFSA is just an application form you fill out to get your EFC, nothing more - they don’t award aid or make rules). The problem is the rulemaking by the federal govt who don’t seem to take much, if any, input from people who know the most about financial aid (CC folk of course ;), and financial aid officers). Some new grants aren’t even always awarded initially because the rules are so difficult to interpret. I remember reading on CC that happened with the ACG and the TEACH grants. The rules for the SMART and ACG have changed annually since the inception of the two programs and they can’t seem to get them right (the current year SMART rules do seem to be better as far as I can tell, the ACG rules seem to be worse). </p>
<p>Both programs are scheduled to go away in 2011-2012 school year so the likelihood of them getting it right before then seems remote.</p>