Additional Discretion Given To Financial Aid Administrators

Abstract:

The Higher Education Act (HEA) gives financial aid administrators the ability to make adjustments to a student’s cost of attendance or to the values of data items used to calculate a student’s expected family contribution. However, the law requires aid administrators to use this authority only on a case-by-case basis and only when there are special circumstances that can be demonstrated by the student or family that justify those adjustments. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) adds more examples of special circumstances where it may be appropriate to make adjustments. Even with the additional examples provided in legislation, aid administrators are cautioned from making across the board determinations without reviewing each case and documenting the special circumstance.

The full article was originally published in NASFAA’s Today’s News on 10/30/2007.