MTV and College Board Ask Students to Speak Up About Fin Aid

September 21, 2010 | posted by Tia Peterson.

Recently, the Washington Post Voices blog reported that students in a Howard University course were pleasantly surprised when Grammy-winner John Legend appeared in their classroom, along with MTV cameras, to talk to them openly about the financial issues facing many college-bound students in America.

Legend’s appearance in the class that day kicked off a nation-wide event spear-headed by the College Board and MTV. The event is called the “Get Schooled College Affordability Challenge.” Students everywhere are being asked to come up with ideas for a digital tool that would make the financial aid process easier, so that more students can take advantage of the some $70 billion dollars in federal funding for higher education available every year.

Are There Hurdles in the Financial Aid Process?

Back in January, the California State University: Northridge online newspaper, the Sun Dial, published an article on the recent changes to the FAFSA form to make it easier for students to fill out. The university’s Director of Financial Aid and Scholarship Department, Lili Vidal was quoted, saying, “It is more difficult to apply for FAFSA than it is to do your taxes… So we’ve tried to make it better.”

In a report published by the U.S. Department of Education (download the report here), one of the changes was to reduce the number of questions asked for parents and students: “The new FAFSA on the Web design uses additional skip logic to reduce the number of questions many students and parents must answer, to decrease the number of entry pages presented to applicants, and to shorten the overall length of the application.” (Summary of Changes for the Application Processing System. U.S. Department of Education. 2010).

Open Call for Ideas

Students are encouraged to visit the Get Schooled website and participate in the challenge between now and December 17, 2010. The winner will receive $10,000, as well as $100,000 in funding for their digital tool.

Your Turn

What do you think about the Financial Aid process? What are the hurdles, if you believe there are any, and what ideas do you have that could make the process easier?

Written by Tia Peterson

Tia Peterson is a single mom living in Tucson, AZ. She is a contributing editor to the College Money Insider blog. She can be reached at tpeterson@overturecorp.com.

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http://www.twitter.com/mattjohns1983 Matt Johns

I have been an Admissions Counselor for over 4 years. The financial aid process has already frustrated me. Everything else about the admissions process is simple, except the financial aid process.

If it were all up to me, I would completely redo the FAFSA form. That tends to be the most difficult for families. Usually, you do not know you entered something wrong on the FAFSA until the very end. It’s so hard to get your Pin number, and it usually frustrates every family I work with.

Why can’t the government make the FAFSA a more simple process?
http://www.overturemarketplace.com/ Jeff Sheely

Those are great points, Matt! The financial aid process is extremely confusing, and the FAFSA is very difficult for many families. Fortunately, the government is working on simplifying the FAFSA, and the new, streamlined version should be available for the 2010-11 school year.
http://www.twitter.com/mattjohns1983 Matt Johns

That is so encouraging to hear! Honestly, every other process is simple, expect for FAFSA. I sat down this summer and helped some students do that, but I was even confused!

You should come visit Oklahoma Christian University in OKC, OK sometime!