51³Ô¹Ï

51³Ô¹Ï supports standardizing college financial aid offers. The Understanding the True Cost of College Act introduced by and by requires standard terminology and offer formats to assist colleges and universities, students and their families, secondary school and postsecondary counselors, and nonprofit consumer groups. 51³Ô¹Ï believes that financial aid transparency is a step toward greater access and opportunity for all students. We back legislation that provides financial aid clarity.

The call to standardize financial aid offers is not new. Mark Kantrowitz wrote about this topic in a 2007 in Inside Higher Ed. In 2012 and 2013, a group of bipartisan senators introduced legislation to standardize student aid offers. Those senators included Tom Harkin, Marco Rubio, and Charles Grassley. Senator Grassley introduced in 2019 with Tina Smith (D-MN) and Joni Ernst (R-IA).

There are other bills and a recently created task force to study the issue. 51³Ô¹Ï would like to see all higher education institutions use the same template so that students can easily compare offers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in early December 2022, after studying a sample of offers from 176 colleges and universities, that most were not using the from the Department of Education. The GAO recommends that Congress pass legislation that would include best practices for colleges regarding financial aid offers. Young Kim’s office has said that her legislation will be reintroduced this spring.

51³Ô¹Ï believes it is time to require standardization. To join this effort, and let them know that financial aid transparency is an important issue to our college-going community and it is time to move forward by reintroducing and approving the True Cost of College Act.