Financial Need

Kim Carroll

Hello! I'm looking to see if there are any schools who use anything other than EFC to determine financial need? The college where I work does not require students to complete the FAFSA to qualify for Foundation scholarships. We also have scholarships for high school dual credit students. Some scholarship opportunities require financial need. Currently, we ask the question: Do you have a financial need? The qualifier is the answer of Yes or No. What our reviewers have seen is that some students select No but when the student writes the personal essay there is clearly a financial need based on what the student wrote. So the reviewers are wanting to move away from the Yes/No qualifier and try something else. Looking for suggestions to share.


Thank you,


Kim Carroll

North Central Texas College

Marilee Abramshe

Though the college I work for does collect Financial data through FAFSA and such, I do not have that uploaded to BAM. The end result, is much like you - I need to ask the question. I've done this two ways - using the multi question option, I've asked them to "Share how they are paying for their education" and among the choices I've put - Savings, Parent Loan, Student Loan (self), Employment, Grants, Scholarships (I distinguish between our own scholarships and others) TAP, Pell, etc. and lastly a field that provides them space to share if they wish to make a statement about their financial need or/alternatively how a scholarship will provide financial assistance. This question exists for me in the General Application. Individually in apply to opportunities, if financial need is stated, then I will simply ask them to provide a statement about their financial need and how they are funding their education.


I'll note that not all students actually know how they are paying for college most likely because their parents handle and there are often inconsistencies - for example I will have students tell me they are getting one of my scholarships but they aren't. So, it's important to take this information for what it is.

Susan Swirsky

We have a question on our General Application where we ask the student to, "Please describe how receiving a scholarship will impact your life." This is where they talk about their financial need.

Russel Heskin

Kim,


At my institution, we were able to work with IT, the Registrar, and Financial Need to create a "Gross Need" field, which is a calculation of "Total Cost of Attendance" (which varies by year and degree program) minus "Estimated Family Contribution." It's not perfect, but it provides some guidance as to which students might have more or less need than others. I've heard other institutions do something similar, but instead of showing an actual dollar amount, they've established a scale based on the students' Gross Need. So, for example, 0 represents the student has no financial need, 1 represents $1-$5,000 of need, 2 represents $5,000-$10,000 of need, etc. That way, you're not sharing actual dollar amounts with the reviewers. I hope that helps!


Russel

Barbara Craig

We import an "unmet need" field from our Banner SIS. I believe that is calculated from their Expected Family Contribution. I am encouraging donors to prefer need rather than requiring it, so we can use it as a factor rather than a qualifier.

Lindley Davis

One of our departments asks students to state any special personal or family circumstances affecting their need for financial assistance. Another department asks students how many hours per week they work, with options for n/a, not currently employed, 1-9 hours, 10-19 hours, 20-29 hours, 30-40 hours. The assumption being that students who work are burdened with paying for their own tuition and living expenses.