11-17 Homework

This post is a day late because I lost my campus ID which I needed to check out my IntraLibrary loan materials!

I requested the book "Redesigning the Financial Aid System" by Robert B. Archibald.

While looking at this source, I learned a new standpoint about financial aid that I had not thought about much before. In his introduction, Archibald explains his own confusion with the Financial Aid System and the troubles in distinguishing the terminology when his own son decided to apply to college. Archibald explains that colleges and banking systems rely on this mis-communication among terms so that tuition can be more profitable for the Universities because parents and students just pay it off not really knowing money saving strategies.

One specific example of the terminology differences that are commonly mis-understood is the difference between financial aid and financial need. Archibald defines financial aid as " funding intended to help students pay education expenses including tuition and fees books and supplies, room and board, etc. for education at a college or university". The interesting term that I learned about was financial need. Archibald explains that financial need as "the difference between the cost of attending college or university and the amount the student and his or her parents can reasonably contribute to costs" (p. 3). Furthermore, I learned that the term unmet financial aid is the difference between financial need and all forms of financial aid (including subsidized loans)" (p. 3). By looking at a graph that displays the relationship between financial aid and unmet financial aid does not align horizontally as it should ideally, instead, the graph's line slopes sharply downward where household incomes are low.

It is hard to describe effectively in the blog how impactful the graphs and diagrams are in this book, however, they help me visualize the lack of financial aid that is being distributed. In agreeance with Archibald, the terminoligy on this topic is exteremely confusing so it helps to see these types of graphs.