In October 2010 the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) conducted a survey that evaluated financial aid administrators to find out whether the latest increases in regulatory and administrative burden have unfavorably affected students or the administration of financial aid programs. The report shows that postsecondary students in both the private and public sector are receiving less adequate student services due to a mixture of increased administrative workload and a reduction or stagnation in financial aid operating resources. To make matters worse, the amount of student aid disbursements has increased in the past five years as well as the number of students applying for aid. In addition, many financial aid administrators reported that their operating budgets remained constant while the average aid applicants significantly increased.
Nearly two-thirds of the survey participants reported that their financial aid office experienced moderate to severe shortages of resources. Based on these finding, NASFAA offers recommendations intended to lessen the burden on financial aid administrators and make more time for student services. NASFAA recommends that student aid programs be streamlined. The report provides specific examples that illustrate ways in which programs and regulations can be simplified or eliminated to alleviate the burden. They suggest that programs consolidate into one grant, loan, or campus-based program. NASFAA also recommends that the student application process be streamlined in an effort to simplify the process for low-income applicants. Finally, NASFAA suggests that any regulations that are not related to financial aid be eliminated.
The findings in this report support the broader opinion of the financial aid community. It demonstrates that the increase in the student population, significant legislative action in recent years, and the downward spiral of the economy have contributed to the diminishing resources in the financial aid office. I would recommend this report to financial aid administrators and researchers seeking to secure resources needed to service today’s financial aid student.
National Association of Financial Aid Administrators (2010). Findings from the 2010 NASFAA Administrative Burden Survey. Retrieved on October 20, 2011 from http://www.nasfaa.org/research/projects/Administrative_Burden.aspx
What type of solutions do you feel are necessary to quell this issue? Broad based and short-term?
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago, the Financial Aid Office was feeling diminishing resources. We lost 3 employees and could not hire them back. We have over 23000 students who are on some form of financial aid and being down 3 staff could have been detrimental. But we took as hard look at how we operate and do business and became more proactive and took the do more with less approach. We ran more reports, processed more often, sent more emails and it really helped us in the long run. We still do some of the same things now, even though we are fully staffed.
ReplyDeletethe last comment was Amy cable's.
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