While students are scrambling to make class deadlines today,another one is looming.
This Saturday, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid isdue. The FAFSA is one of those applications that most incomingfirst-years fill out and then forget in the next four years oftheir undergraduate career.
The 20-page application would send any student to hide under hisVersace sheets.
The issue is that some students, yes they exist at SMU, needfederal assistance to pay for college. However, they don’tneed to be pushed around by the U.S. Department of Education.
The FAFSA requires so much information, and is so complicated,that some students may forego filing the application in order toavoid the hassle. In order to file the application, students arerequired to either sign it using an online PIN number or print outa signature page and mail it in.
Now, most people would choose the online option in an effort tosave time and postage, however, it isn’t nearly as convenientas one might expect.
The application for a Department of Education PIN number isseparate from the actual FAFSA application, and is much shorter,but this doesn’t necessarily make it easier.
Once the application has been submitted, the student must waitone to three days before receiving an email with a link to theactual number. The postal version obviously takes longer —seven to 10 days.
If the student is dependent, then the parents have to get a PINnumber as well.
This whole process is annoying, time-consuming and ratherdangerous for a procrastinator.
Also, the Department of Education is notoriously stingy in itsdistribution of funds.
For example, they require the total value of all investmentsavailable to the student, including solid assets such as realestate and precious metals. These items require more than a littletime and energy to be converted into a form suitable for payment ofcollege tuition.
The whole FAFSA process and management cause students to becomefed up.
This leads to greater debt upon graduation, a serious problem,which continues to grow larger every year.
In short, the FAFSA needs to be more convenient, and theDepartment of Education should receive a greater portion of our taxdollars.
