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5 Big Financial Aid Lies
Tweet Share on Facebook April 6, 2010 Comment (42)One of the reasons students and parents are so frustrated by their attempts to figure out how to pay for college is that many of the terms that government officials and college administrators use can be misleading.
In eight years of researching and writing about financial aid, I have met and interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of the college and government officials who create and enforce financial aid rules. And the vast majority of them have seemed to me to be honorable, idealistic people. But too often they end up misleading students or parents because many of the financial aid terms they have to use turn out to have technical or legal definitions that run directly counter to commonly understood meanings. And in some cases, I believe, politicians or college officials have purposely crafted terms that give students more hope for aid than is realistic. I realize that calling something a "lie" is inflammatory. Before you post any blistering comments, consider these financial aid terms and draw your own conclusions:
