Admissions Academy Blog

New Proposals for Federal Financial Aid

•  Posted by Sarah Ziegler on September 21st, 2008 in Articles of Interest
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Financial aid was once again in the news this week, as the Rethinking Student Aid study group released a report outlining steps to reform the federal financial aid system. The report is the result of two years of analysis by higher-ed professionals and advocates to help simplify the current financial aid system, while preserving tax benefits and other incentives to support college education. Among the more controversial aspects of the report, the Rethinking Student Aid proposes the elimination of the FAFSA aid application, pushing the work and analysis instead to information available from the IRS, and the elimination of subsidized interest on student loans, diverting the money instead to create a more nuanced system to help students pay back their debt. While little is likely to change in the short term, advocates hope the report will help lead the way to reforms of an aid system already struggling from tightening credit, a rising federal budget deficit, and a complexity that leaves many families unwilling or unable to participate in the federal aid process.

Read more analysis on the report from Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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