Financial Aid: Are We Having Fun Yet?

Does anyone in the financial aid world remember the day when there was no ACG, SMART, TEACH or Year-Round Pell?  Life was much simpler then…when our main focus each fall was updating correspondence and award letters for the upcoming award year…when we didn’t have to immerse ourselves in regulatory changes just to keep our heads above water before spring rolled around and it became time to package prospective freshmen. I really knew we were in trouble when I arrived at the SASFAA conference this past February and saw the title of a breakout session being presented by the feds: TIV Compliance: Staying Out of Jail Pretty scary stuff, huh? Or when I ran into 6,000 of my closest financial aid colleagues at the Federal Student Aid Conference in Nashville this past December, and realized that we were all there because we were desperate to get every tidbit of knowledge that we could possibly find at the conference. The fire marshal even closed some of the sessions because there were too many of us packed into the meeting rooms!  Wow. The SASFAA session covered the top 10 audit and program review findings that the Department has identified.  The importance of maintaining written policies and procedures was stressed and the presenter discussed ways to prepare for an audit or program review.  Take a look at the presentation here. With the simultaneous hits of mandatory Direct Loans and Year-Round Pell,  and hearing the news  that program reviews are on the rise, is it any wonder that there are any of us left in this business? I think that the answer lies in the fact that this industry is made up of folks who love helping students attain their goals…and that’s why you’re still here…because you’ve all received those quiet thank you sentiments from students and families…and even though financial aid hasn’t been much fun lately, you know that you are playing a very important role in the lives of your students and in the future of your institutions.  Hang in there!