By Bobby Bourke
Director of Financial Aid Lawrence Matthews spoke at forum on Tuesday, Feb. 28 in Stutzman Lecture Hall about the upcoming changes students should expect to take place in the financial aid process.
The changes addressed are important for students to know as it affects every student at Bluffton. This includes changes to questions on Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), award eligibility changes as well as what will be counted as income on FAFSA.
More specifically, questions dealing with drug convictions and people in the service have been removed. There was also a removal of the question asking for gender specification. FAFSA felt that these questions were no longer necessary.
Another big change coming to FAFSA is students who live on a family farm or are a part of a family business. Those assets will now be counted into a student’s financial aid. This means that students who bring in more money from their family business will see a reduction in the amount of financial aid they are offered, and they must have a FAFSA on file in order to be eligible for any type of financial aid award.
“It is my job to make sure that you understand these changes as they are happening,” said Matthews. “These changes are not completely clear as of yet and they may affect each student differently but the important thing to remember is that they are affecting every student that goes through this process.”
For any additional information about the process or the changes to Financial Aid contact Matthews at matthewsl[at]bluffton.edu. Students are also encouraged to do their own research. This can be done through various sources like National Association of Students Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) and Federal Student Aid (FSA).
Registration for the fall semester begins on March 27.
Senior Bobby Bourke. Photo taken by Payton Stephens.
