Opinion: Financial Aid Award Letters Often Lack Transparency and Wind Up Confusing Students and Parents
"When you buy a house, you know the price and your monthly payment. The same with a car," Eileen Ambrose writes for the Baltimore Sun. "But when it comes to a college education, students often don't have a clear idea of what they'll end up paying or whether one school is offering a better aid package than another. That's because there is no uniformity to financial aid award letters. ...Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators, says his group supports standard terminology and having key elements in all award letters. But it doesn't want a cookie-cutter format that all must use. 'Our concern is that students are as diverse as their institutions,' Draeger says. 'Schools need some latitude to deliver the information that will make the most amount of sense to their students.'"
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