Talking about affordability can be a scary conversation for a recruiter. That is part of the reason more and more institutions have moved to transparent merit policies and other “entitlements” with clear eligibility criteria. But even if recruiters have these tools at their disposal, they still need to be able to talk with confidence about need-based aid and that is where it can get complicated.
Before a family has filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and received a full aid offer, admissions officers have a responsibility to give students and their parents a sense of confidence that the institution will be a good partner in making the education affordable. Otherwise, the applicant may just give up or lose interest before January 1st, when the FAFSA form can first be filed.
Almost every institution Scannell & Kurz has worked with has a portion (sometimes a large portion) of the admit pool that doesn’t apply for financial aid; typically, yield rates on this portion of the pool are quite low. That is because most of these families have either lost interest or decided that they can’t afford the institution before it was time to complete the FAFSA. They probably have applied for aid; they just haven’t sent the FAFSA to all the institutions that admitted them.
Recruiters must demonstrate that families from all walks of life have found a way to meet the college's costs.
To keep these families interested long enough to give the institution a chance to put a financial aid award in their hands, admissions recruiters must not only be able to talk about the features and benefits of the institution, but also be able to demonstrate that families from all walks of life have found a way to meet the college’s costs. Data on the percent of students receiving aid and the average aid award, the percent of last year’s class coming from various income bands, and sample packages for families in different economic circumstances can all help families see that there are others like them at the institution.
Answering the Broad Questions
As a result of the latest reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, all institutions will have to post a net price calculator on their websites. This will further increase the already well-established trend toward greater transparency.
However, the requirement will represent a challenge for some institutions that group students in a way where significant unmet need is left. So admissions officers will need to plan carefully whatever approach toward meeting this requirement will be most appropriate for their own institution. Some schools may want very detailed calculators that gather enough quality and socioeconomic data to give a detailed estimate of the package. Others may prefer a more general approach that meets only the minimum requirements.
Recruiters also need to be able to talk confidently about the process of applying for aid and be familiar with some basic terms. At a minimum, they should know answers to the following questions:
• What forms, in addition to the FAFSA, are required by your institution?
• Are there important deadlines to mention (institutional or state)?
• What does it mean if a student is selected for verification? What percentage of applicants does your institution verify? (For example, some institutions verify only those files selected by the government—typically about 30 percent of all filers. Other institutions verify 100 percent of filers to ensure that institutional need-based aid is being awarded properly.)
• What is an Expected Family Contribution (EFC)? Although this is the amount that a family is calculated to be able to pay, not every institution fully meets the need and, consequently, the actual contribution may be much higher than the EFC figure. Also note that many families believe their EFC is too high to start with. Even before filing the FAFSA, families can get an estimate of their EFC through online resources like the College Board’s website, www.collegeboard.com.
• What is financial need? Need is calculated by taking the full cost of attendance (both direct costs that will be due to the institution as well as estimated indirect costs for things like books, personal expenses, and travel) minus the EFC.
