During President Obama’s epic State of the Union address, he said a person shouldn’t go broke because they chose to go to college. With the ever-changing economy and nonexistent job market, it’s no question that most students choose to go to school even though college tuition is rising. For many middle class students, the ability to go to school can be very distressing when dealing with financial aid qualifications.
Most City College students who have endured the long process that is financial aid are familiar with three little words, Expected Family Contribution. EFC is the amount of money the federal government expects each family to contribute toward college. The EFC estimates the family’s financial stability and strength of their resources based on information pulled from the student’s FAFSA. That determines what the student’s financial package will be, whether they qualify for loans, grants or both.
The way the EFC is determined doesn’t favor middle-class families because it takes into consideration the parents’ assets, such as stocks and savings accounts, which are inaccessible for college payments.
If the EFC is too high, the student is not able to receive either the Cal Grant or the Federal Pell Grant, but they can qualify for a loan. There are some scholarships a student can receive, but they have to also be qualified for the Federal Pell Grant.
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Despite the fact that most students from middle class families are qualified to receive aid, most only qualify for student loans, meaning a hefty debt to pay back after graduation. According to the Federal Pell Grant criteria, any family earning below $55,000 a year is eligible to receive part of or the full grant awarded. Unfortunately, the average middle class income is $85,000 annually and when scoring the EFC, taxes, bills and demographics aren’t taken into account.
Many middle class students are denied money they desperately need to help themselves through school. Those privileged enough to pay for school through wealthy parents may smartly retort, “Well, if you’re not getting the money that you desperately need for school, why don’t you get a job?” For full-time students, this is quite a feat because most students either can’t get hired due to their busy schedule or there is simply not enough time in the day to fit in a job. Plus, the job market of today is like a mirage: it’s there, but it quickly evaporates. Loans are a quick fix to assist students in times of need, but if the loan is carelessly taken without knowing the interest rates, it can do some severe damage to one’s credit.
If there’s one thing that I can agree on with President Obama is this: Students shouldn’t have to ruin their credit and go broke because they want to go to school. They are going to school and trying to find a way to make something of themselves. So why should they be punished for doing so? It simply is unfair to have to dig themselves a deep hole only to have it collapse on their shoulders.
Obviously, grant qualifications and loans don’t favor middle class families because it forces them to fend for themselves, leaving students to scrape the bottom of their savings accounts just to buy that extra box of spaghetti noodles. Sure it’s monetary assistance, but it comes with a price. As time goes by and interest begins to set in, debt begins to slowly rise just to cripple and annihilate credit. This is the last thing students need to worry about. The federal government needs to wake up and see what is happening to middle class education because the longer they keep their eyes closed, the more the middle class will disappear.
