Dive Brief:
- Inside Higher Ed reports on unexpected challenges stemming from the federal government's new early filing rules for FAFSA applications and allowances for tax information from two years prior to the last tax filing period.
- Many campus financial aid officers are showing flags in their financial aid awarding systems, due to changes in income from the last accepted FAFSA filing and the most recent, which because of students filing earlier and potentially using different information, may delay award decisions or force financial aid adjustments.
- Many financial aid officers expect for the changes to create problems for this year, but that they will not go into the next academic year.
Dive Insight:
This is a classic example of how Department of Education policymaking intended to create more support for students creates more burden for campus executives and service managers. It is similar to issues presented by the Department's guidance on predatory institutions, overtime eligibility, and college data provision.
College leaders must consistently stay abreast of policy proposals issued by ED and effectively lobby federal lawmakers to be vocal about how sudden shifts can costs schools more money, more time or more administrative bloat unnecessarily.