The Paper Trail

Federal Financial Aid Applications Up 20%

By Alison Go

March 11, 2009 RSS Feed Print

No surprise here: Applications for federal financial aid are up—way up. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators reports that it has so far processed 3 million FAFSA forms for the upcoming school year, a 20 percent jump from a year ago in the same time period.

As for federal direct-lending, volume was $20.2 billion, up $7.1 billion over a year ago. The number of loans rose 1.6 million, and the number of participating colleges increased by 548.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has more details.

Tags:
financial aid,
colleges,
Pell grants,
student loans,
paying for college

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Oh boy - no surprise interest in federal funding goes up when there's not enough to go around anymore. Students have to rely on scholarships. Programs like http://www.scholarshippoints.com/ or http://www.fastweb.com/ become necessary for kids to try and pay their way through school.

jon of MA 4:19PM March 16, 2009

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