Feds Recommend Colleges Clarify Financial Aid Offers

Inside Higher Ed

By Andrew Kreighbaum

The Education Department this week issued recommendations for colleges to improve the transparency of financial aid offered to students. The department’s guidance suggests college financial aid offers should:

  • Avoid referring to financial aid offers, which can include loans and Federal Work-Study, as “awards.”
  • Include the full cost of attendance.
  • List grant aid, loans and work-study separately.
  • Avoid listing Parent PLUS loans with other student loans.
  • Include next steps for students and families after they receive their aid offers.

Those items largely reflect the recommendations of a report last year from New America and uAspire, which found that financial aid offers from colleges used inconsistent terminology and often failed to … (continue reading)