Some moderately selective colleges seem to reduce financial aid to students who have indicated they might have their heart set on those colleges -- but the practice does not appear widespread, according to a new study of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
"Our main takeaway is that that doesn’t seem to be going on much," said Stephen R. Porter, a professor of higher education at North Carolina State University. Porter cowrote the new paper, which was prepared for delivery at this week's Association for Education Finance and Policy conference, with Johnathan G. Conzelmann, a researcher at consulting firm RTI International.
The FAFSA is a federal form filled out by most American college students seeking financial aid. When students or their parents fill out the FAFSA, they are asked to submit the names of up to 10 colleges to which they are applying.
That list has turned out to be valuable to college admissions offices and private enrollment management consultants: the order in which students list institutions on the FAFSA corresponds strongly with students’ preferences. Students may be much less interested in attending colleges that they put farther down on the list.
Anecdotally, some colleges may look at this information and use it to make decisions about admission, placement on a wait list or the size of a financial aid award.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/25/paper-finds-some-colleges-may-use-student-preferences-reduce-aid-practice-not