Student Told Not To Work! A Rare Rant by College Pete

I usually leave the rants for Andy, but he’s on vacation and I’m really ticked off.

I’m seeing motivated students get completely screwed by financial aid offices at local colleges right before classes start, and it’s really bothering me.

Our community college system is supposed to be open to all interested students, offering the opportunity of a college degree to everyone. So I get furious when two students come to me today, hours apart, complaining that the financial aid office at Broward College is giving them an unreasonably difficult time with their awards, and the result is that the school has unilaterally dropped their classes even though the first day of school isn’t until next week. In both cases the students registered early (about a month ago), applied for financial aid months ago, and both are VERY deserving of need-based aid.

In the first case the parents, like a lot of folks, suffered quite a bit in 2009, resulting in a $200,000 LOSS on their tax return. They have no assets and they are upside-down on their home in a big way. Because of the huge loss and the fact that they received reduced price lunch, they are not required to report their assets on the FAFSA (this is known as a “Simplified EFC”). When the stressed out student (let’s call her Janine) called me last week exasperated because the school wants to see her parents assets (they have about $400 in the bank), I decided to humor the school by including the assets on the form. It was then that I noticed that the Financial Aid Officer went into Janine’s FAFSA (yes, they can do this) and “corrected” the form by removing the minus sign from the parents income, reflecting INCOME of $200,000. Can you believe? Had I not noticed this, the result would have been an approximate $50,000 swing in what the federal formula said that Janine’s family can afford for a year of college. This travesty doesn’t end there, though.

After correcting the FAFSA last week, Janine was told today that the changes had not yet been updated with Broward College, and the result was that they dropped all of her classes because she didn’t pay her bill on time. The financial aid representative told Janine just a few weeks ago that she would get financial aid, that she had nothing to worry about. Now she is no longer a registered student at Broward College, classes start next week, and she has been advised to grovel to her professors so that she can get re-enrolled in the classes she wants, otherwise she can register where there is space but then she’ll be in classes offered all over town at different BC campuses, and Janine doesn’t have a car so she’s basically screwed.

In the second case, the student in question (let’s call him Brock) earned over $10,000 as a lifeguard in 2009. He used this money to pay for necessities like auto insurance, gas, his car, food, and other items to support his household. Brock was raised by his single mom who works her tail off to earn about $40,000 per year in the fundraising department at a local hospital, and she receives about $5,000 per year in alimony which she’s constantly paying attorneys to keep from getting reduced. Brock’s sister, a college student at FIU, also lives with them. Because of his “high” income, Brock’s EFC is over $5,000, which means that he won’t qualify for a Pell Grant. So what did the financial aid officer at Broward College say to him? “You shouldn’t work”, she said.

What kind of incentive are we giving students when the rules of the system are designed to hurt them if they work? What message does this send when we tell a kid that his hard work and commitment to his job will mean that he cannot afford to attend college? Brock is appealing his financial aid award on the basis that his income was earned last year, in 2009, and his income in 2010 is zilch, while Mom is struggling to feed herself and 2 additional mouths while trying to put two kids through college, all without the child support she was getting last year because Brock graduated high school in May 2009.

Janine and Brock are getting a raw deal. Could their situations have been avoided? Probably. Andy recently wrote about how families aren’t getting the Pell Grants they deserve because of a U.S. Department of Education process called “Verification”. I witnessed two depressing and irritating cases today where dreams are being crushed because of the inane financial aid rules.

Is there hope? Yes, there is. Register for our workshops at www.financialaid.com/workshop.

We get busy this time of year, but there are still some spots left. Do your kids a favor and listen to what we have to say.