Professor DesJardins, CSHPE doctoral candidate Oster, and alumnus Wiederspan contribute to policy recommendations for improving FAFSA process
CSHPE professor Stephen DesJardins, CSHPE doctoral candidate Meghan Oster, and CSHPE alumnus Mark Wiederspan co-authored one of the ten newly-released reports that explore ways to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—and the overall federal student aid process—more efficient and streamlined for applicants and their families. Oster is Statistical Research Analyst at Iowa College Aid. Wiederspan is Executive Director of Iowa College Aid. The team’s report, “A Stumbling Block on the Road to College: How FAFSA Verification Hinders Low-Income Students,” sheds light on the extent to which selection for verification poses a barrier to college enrollment.
Despite efforts to simplify the FAFSA—a key component in providing financial assistance for college—students still face significant obstacles to completing the process and receiving funding. This study looks at verification, which is a process in which institutions must confirm the accuracy of students’ and their families’ financial information reported on the FAFSA. The process requires additional paperwork and time for both students and institutions, and delays in verification cause delays in receiving financial aid.
The authors address the following questions regarding the relationship of verification to college enrollment:
- Based on elements reported in the FAFSA, what students are likely to be flagged for verification?
- What is the predicted probability that students selected for verification will enroll in college relative to students who are not selected for verification?
The authors conclude, “Verification is an important process to ensure that financial aid to pay for college goes to the neediest students. However, the process can be complex and time consuming, both for the student and for the institution performing the verification. And, for those students who are able to complete the process, there is little to no change to their calculated EFC.”
Consistent with previous studies, the researchers found that that being Pell eligible significantly increases a student’s likelihood of being selected for verification. The report states, “Our main findings illuminate how the impacts of such a process can hinder students’ likelihood of enrolling in college. While the overall differences in enrollment rates are small, they are statistically significant. Pell-eligible students selected for verification were 2.3 percentage points less likely to enroll than their counterparts who were not selected for verification.”
The authors also note that the exchange of more information between the IRS and ED can help alleviate the need for verification, and, in turn, eliminate verification as a barrier to college enrollment. This is particularly relevant in light of a recent policy change to expand the use of the Data Retrieval Tool. The report calls for further investigation once this policy is implemented: “Future research should evaluate the effect of this policy change on verification and college enrollment to understand whether making the FAFSA easier to file reduces administrative burden for both students and institutions and eliminates a barrier to enrollment for the financially neediest college-bound students.”
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