The College Money Method 
Crunch

The Crunch provides news and information around financial aid and paying for college for you to use with students and families in your college counseling practice. 

September 2023 Edition

In this Edition....

• Financial Aid and applying Early Decision
• Updated resources for the 2024-25 FAFSA
• Coalition for College counselor workshop

Financial Aid and applying Early Decision

The FAFSA delay impacts ED applicants who need financial aid. Helping these students navigate their choices for ED is more challenging this cycle because of the lack of up-to-date information on colleges’ policies. I’ve created a list of the most popular ED colleges and their current financial aid policies for ED applicants. Here are takeaways for you to use from this survey.

Most Profile schools will be providing a preliminary financial aid offer with a student’s ED admission. Colleges will estimate eligibility for Federal Student Aid programs using data from CSS Profile. The student would then complete the FAFSA for a final offer and qualification.

Without a processed FASFA, schools cannot be promissory on Federal Student Aid, and the final offer may differ. Some Profile schools that meet 100% of need are committing to fill any gaps with institutional aid, but there are other schools that rely more heavily on Federal Student Aid programs – like loans and work-study – to provide a substantial portion of need-met. There are more details in the Google sheet.

There are a few concerns around this approach:

1. What if there is a significant change in the final award once the FAFSA is submitted?
2. For students with such changes in their final awards, will ED still be binding?
3. Will students be allowed to keep other admission applications open until they receive their final offers?

For schools that only require the FAFSA, the task is more challenging. Some colleges, like Endicott, Wheaton (MA) and Loyola Marymount, are creating institutional forms for early admission cycles to collect the necessary information for a preliminary financial aid offer. Other schools, like the University of San Francisco, have not defined the process for Early Decision financial aid applicants yet.

Now more than even it’s important to have students…

1. Contact financial aid offices for ED schools under consideration to get details on the process and commitment to offer at the time of ED admission.
2. Get a pre-read of their financial aid, especially since many Net Price Calculators are still not updated with the new FASFA eligibility formula.
3. Ask about the potential differences between a preliminary and final award given a college’s institutional aid policy and commitment to meet need.
4. Reach out to admissions to understand the nature of binding and options if a preliminary or final award isn’t enough.

Updated resources for the 2024-25 FAFSA

I’ve created a summary comparison between the old and new FAFSA to help you track the key changes in terminology, process and eligibility. You can download this reference guide at the the Counselor Resource Center for the new FAFSA.

I also recorded the Federal Student Aid Demo of the new online FAFSA from August 17, 2023. This 1-hour overview provides a preview of the experience to come for both students and parents.

Be on the lookout for even more resources in the coming weeks!

Workshop: Advising families through the FAFSA changes

In partnership with the Coalition for College, I’m offering a counselor workshop on advising families through the FAFSA changes. I’ll be focusing on both process and eligibility changes and how these will impact the diverse students – and families – we advise.

The event is on October 4. You can register for this event at https://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/event/fafsa-advising.

I’ll be at NACAC later this week, attending sessions focused on financial aid and the new FAFSA. Be on the lookout in the next edition of the Crunch for notes on each of these sessions - and more FAFSA updates.

Until next month,

Paul