AU will not be affected by the U.S. Department of Education's plan to end a pilot program which allowed schools to experiment with waiving federal financial aid regulations.
The Experimental Sites Initiative was launched in 1995 by Former Education Secretary Richard Riley. Since then, it has grown enormously, with over 100 schools participating. Several of its experiments have gone on to become standard government policy, and a 2008 Department of Education report gave the project a full endorsement.
"This flexibility [has] provided institutions ... with non-trivial administrative relief," according to the report, authored by Outreach Coordinator David Jones. "This relief ... reduced the time demands on students and their families."
The current experiments sanctioned by the program include allowing federal work-study payments to automatically be put towards tuition, allowing students to waive the testing requirement before taking federal loans and publicly listing loan fees as part of a school's cost of attendance. In return for allowing these experiments, universities provided the Department of Education with statistical data to determine the experiments' effectiveness.
Despite the apparent success of the program, the Bush administration ordered it to cease during its final days in office. Currently, the program will expire on June 30, 2009, according to the Department of Education.
This deadline has prompted fierce resistance from some in the financial aid community. In a Feb. 13 letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators President Philip R. Day Jr. warned the program's cancellation would have some extensive consequences.
"The result of the Department's ill-conceived action ... will result in added expenses to schools," Day said in the letter. "The Department should reverse this decision."
Colin Eustis, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business, said that if the program does continue, the Office of Financial Aid should try to get involved.
He said he thinks allowing federal work-study payments to go directly towards tuition should be an option.
"The test [to get approved for federal loans] doesn't make much sense either," Eustis said. "You could condense everything on that thing down to a one page document."
Meredith Hughes, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said AU should look into joining the program.
"I certainly don't think it would be harmful," she said. "It might be a good idea."
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