The Brown & White

For decades, the complexity of the financial aid application process has caused problems for students applying to college.

In some cases, confusion about how to get financial aid has deterred low-income students from applying, but a recent study shows that with proper information more of these students may apply to and attend college.

The confusion surrounding the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the federal application for financial aid, led the National Bureau of Economic Research to create a project to conduct experimental treatments that examine the simplification of the FAFSA and the effectiveness of receiving assistance while filling out the form.

The project is led by Eric P. Bettinger, associate professor of economics and education, at Stanford University and his associates.

"Individuals who received assistance with the FAFSA and information about aid were substantially more likely to submit the aid application, enroll in college the following fall, and receive more financial aid," according to a document titled, "The Role of Simplification and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment."

The project's analysis says federal and state financial aid policies have neglected to narrow the gap between high and low-income families who have the ability to send their kids to college.

According to the project, students are not going to college for two main reasons: First, there is not enough information about higher education tuitions and second, there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the availability of financial aid.

The latter factor is nationwide and has taken a toll on prospective and enrolled students here at Lehigh, said Linda Bell, director of financial aid.

"Very simplistically, they're thinking the difficulty of filling out a FAFSA is preventing students from going to college," Bell said. "But you're now young adults, you're responsible, and should be able to fill out forms," she said. "We send you about 15 notifications before the deadline. That's plenty of time for you to get organized."

Terri M. Jones, assistant director of financial aid, said she works with more parents than undergraduate students on completing the financial aid process.

"For the most part, students don't do their own aid and are often surprised at the end of their four years of what they owe," she said.

Jones said one of the reasons students are surprised is because they do not take the time to read over what they are signing and do not utilize financial aid counselors.

Bell agreed and said if more students got involved at home and filled out the College Scholarship Service and the FAFSA together with their parents, students would be more aware of what they're committing to.

However, some students feel differently about the financial aid forms than Lehigh's financial aid officers.

"At this age, students don't always know enough about the modern financial system to be able to interact with banks without any issues," said Ian Harrison, '11. "How many contracts have you signed? Without a parent or some sort of financial advisor, how can we sit down and read a 30-page contract that will one day mean paying back, say, a $100,000 or more?"

Bettinger sought to address questions like Harrison's, among others, in his project and came to a similar conclusion-some students at this time are not going to college because of the complexity of financial aid forms.

A research team has begun to formulate a plan to simplify the process so that forms and the lack of education surrounding financial aid eligibility are not the reason why thousands of students are not going to college.

A formal change has yet to be implemented and the current situation will persist until a plan is in place, said Bell.

At Lehigh, 50 percent of Lehigh undergraduates receive financial aid that is funded by the university. Approximately 60 to 65 percent of undergraduate students receive aid from either Lehigh or other sources, she said.

"About 100 students lose financial aid from missing deadlines alone and after that if I'm out of money, I'm out of funding," Bell said.

Sitting down with a parent or guardian with your tax return, CSS and the FAFSA and filling it out together should not take more than a couple of hours at most, Bell said.

The daunting 100-question FAFSA form, statistics provided in the Bettinger Project show that students are discouraged every year.