Dear US Department of Education:
Thank you for taking action on the long-standing request from students, parents, colleges, and counselors for updating the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The old FAFSA had more questions than many income tax forms, and even though I was rooting for the updated version that consisted of two questions (“What’s the income of your household? How many people are in your household?” yielded a 95% match to current Pell eligibility in an unofficial study I can’t find now), the 36-or-so question version you’re rolling out is a huge step in the right direction.
Now, about the rollout. Counselors were respectfully reserved when you announced the new FAFSA would not be ready for a November release (like the old FAFSA was) and would be coming out in December. We schedule Paying for College programs in November (they’re no longer called Financial Aid Nights because that title has a stigma), and a November rollout allows many early college applicants to get their financial aid information before Christmas, when many families have common time off, and can discuss weighty matters like this. Still, we mumbled our acquiescence, using the chant of “36 questions” as our mantra.
You can imagine our, um, surprise when the weeks before Thanksgiving brought the announcement there’s a very good chance FAFSA will roll out December 31. Yes, the announcement did say the debut would be no later than New Year’s Eve, but veteran counselors know that a “release by” date means something’s going to happen at the last possible minute.
If that’s the case here, this is a terrible, terrible idea.
I’m hoping I don’t have to point out to the department supporting America’s schools that New Year’s Eve finds all of American’s schools closed—in fact, most of them have been empty for at least a week by then. This means a December 31 FAFSA rollout would give students and parents access to a form they’ve never seen before, a form that makes the difference for thousands of students between affording college, or deferring their very realistic dreams—all without the availability of counselors to help them navigate the form.
If you think that doesn’t matter—that most parents who actually look at the form and get confused will say “Hey, we’ll just ask the counselor about this when school opens”, you are overestimating the resilience of many families, especially many parents of first-generation students who aren’t quite sure about this whole college thing in the first place. And don’t forget the parents who insist that the federal government doesn’t need to know about their finances. Add in their hesitance to talking about money with counselors, and you’ve got an Auld Lang Syne trifecta for higher education disaster. (And if you’re thinking, hey, can’t the counselors just go to the school and field questions on New Year’s Day, I respectfully respond—Really?)
I never pretend to speak for the entire counseling profession, but if December 31st is the best you can do for the new FAFSA rollout, move it to January 10. Schools are open, counselors have dealt with students who had tough holidays, and the profession you are charged with supporting will be able to bring laser-focus to the new FAFSA.
You may think sooner is better, and you’re right—so by all means, feel free to roll out the new FAFSA today. If it’s any time after December 20th, give it a rest until January 10. Unlike most things in the world of counseling, that would be a situation where less is much, much more.
No comments:
Post a Comment