Editor’s Column:
Addressing the Recession
t’s news to no one that the United States – and, indeed, the world – has
I
experienced in the past year the most profound economic downturn since
the Great Depression. Some analysts say that the economy is beginning to
recover from the “Great Recession,” but the lasting effects on employment will
be with us for some time into the future.
For financial aid administrators, the nation’s economic woes are seen every
day in the lives of our students and their families. Students have great difficulty
finding part-time jobs. Some parents and independent students have lost
employment; others have had wages cut or overtime pared, or have found net
revenue from self-employment to be shrinking. Some of the unemployed have
turned to postsecondary education in search of retraining or new direction in
their lives. Assets held in investments and real estate have dropped in value.
Bank accounts and personal credit have been depleted to try to bridge shortfalls
in living expenses.
There are several ways that aid administrators can help students and their
families cope with the current economic situation. From the time the
particulars of need analysis were written into the Higher Education Act in 1968,
aid administrators have had the authority to exercise professional judgment:
“[O]n the basis of adequate documentation, to make adjustment on a case-by-case
basis to the cost of attendance or the vales of the data items required to calculate the
expected student or parent contribution (or both) to allow for treatment of an
individual eligible applicant with special circumstances” (Section 479A [20 USC
1087tt]).
NASFAA has provided guidance on professional judgment through publications
and Webinars:
• Monograph Number 20, Developing the Cost of Attendance (June 2007), the
fourth revision on the topic, helps aid administrators formulate appropriate
student expense budgets and describes circumstances in which the budget side
of the need formula can be adjusted to accommodate students’ special
circumstances.
• Monograph Number 22, Professional Judgment in Eligibility Determination
and Need Analysis (May 2009), the sixth revision on the topic, discusses need
analysis principles to help aid administrators understand the basis for
reviewing family financial data, the manifold considerations that affect ability
to pay for postsecondary expenses, and the variety of materials used to
document changed circumstances.
• In June 2009, NASFAA presented a Webinar, Professional Judgment: It’s Still
Your Decision, to further explain the authority aid administrators have.
2 Journal of Student Financial Aid Volume 39 • Number 1 • 2009
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