“Few college students know that they can request changes to their college financial aid packages. The term financial aid appeal doesn’t even appear in the glossary of the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid website. A recent GAO report found that two-thirds of all institutions do not inform students that they can appeal for a dependent care allowance, which permits students with children to request financial aid to cover childcare during school-related activities. Today, more than 25 percent of all college students have a dependent child.

Students can appeal their financial packages for a number of reasons, and the Department of Education provides guidance to financial aid counselors annually. At the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation, we wanted to provide a similar resource for the 18.8 million Americans who apply for college financial aid each year. For the past six months, we have collaborated closely with 18 leading higher education associations, advocacy organizations, and colleges to build SwiftStudent: a new free, digital resource that helps students request changes to their college financial aid packages.”

Read more in Forbes.

“There is growing evidence that athletic scholarships fall short of the rising costs of attending college, as do most other scholarships. Difficulty paying their bills reduces the odds that student-athletes will graduate from college, especially those from families without wealth. Just over 55% of black male student-athletes graduate within six years, compared with 60% of all black undergraduate men, 69.3% of all student-athletes and 76.3% of all undergraduate students.

Last week, California Governor Newsom signed a law that will allow student-athletes the opportunity to earn money from the time and talent they invest in school sports. If the law survives the various legal challenges ahead, student-athletes will be able to seek compensation for the use of their images — their personal brands — and engage agents to represent them in the marketplace. In an interview with The New York Times, Governor Newsom noted, “Every single student in the university can market their name, image and likeness; they can go and get a YouTube channel, and they can monetize that…The only group that can’t are athletes. Why is that?”

Read more on Salon.com.

Adjusting the COA for all kinds of students, from student-athletes to the homeless -- which financial aid offices can do whenever they choose -- would raise the limit on what these students can borrow to support themselves during their college years.

Skeptics will assail this proposal as dangerous, noting that higher COA would allow students to borrow ruinous amounts of money, far beyond the actual out-of-pocket cost of attending a given institution. Yet, the COA of most institutions -- largely unregulated and generally unaudited -- already exceeds what students can afford.

Even with available grant aid, 95% of institutions are too expensive for students with the greatest need. A reconsideration of COA to reflect the reality faced by today's students -- Division I athletes, student-parents, Pell recipients, homeless students and others -- would allow institutions to recognize the needs and challenges faced by different kinds of students in a tangible way that improves their odds of completing college. After all, fewer than 60% of college students make it all the way to graduation.

Read more in CNN.

“All this noise and stress about what happens at the most selective 50 schools in the U.S. distracts from the critical issues at the other 3,000-plus colleges and universities — where most Americans are educated. For these college-bound students, what matters most is whether a college offers a good quality, high value education at a reasonable price. A good college is one that can take any minimally qualified student and help them learn. Their missions focus on the communities they serve, the students they teach — not future alumni whose donations they plan to collect. The estimated lifetime earnings bump from a college degree is a million dollars over a career. For many, attaining an affordable degree is their best shot at the middle class.”

Read more in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Making college not only more affordable but also actually free for everyone has been the subject of much recent debate in Washington, in the national news and on the presidential campaign trail. While a wonderful concept in theory, such a proposal would be all but impossible in practice, given today’s political climate and the massive growth in government spending that a truly free college plan would require. What’s more, these ideas distract from the work we can and should be doing to strengthen an existing federal program that already makes college free, or mostly free, for many low-income students: the Pell Grant.

With a current maximum award of $5,775, Pell Grants cover virtually full freight at most community colleges and, when combined with need and merit-based institutional aid, can make a sizable dent in the bill at most public four-year schools, too. But while more than eight million low-income students used some form of the program last year alone, millions more never even knew it was an option.

That disconnect is troubling for many reasons, not least of all because it means our poorest students are leaving money on the table. And in some cases, the perceived lack of affordable options could deter them from applying to college at all.

Read more in Inside Higher Ed.

“At College Abacus, we are closing the gap between legislation – and its goals – and the actual needs of students, parents, and counselors around the United States. We are taking on the task of aggregating the net price calculators into a single, student-friendly tool. With the help of a grant provided by the Gates Foundation’s College Knowledge Challenge, we expect College Abacus to expand from its current group of 4,000+ schools to include all US colleges and universities by September 2013.

Given the 1 trillion dollar student loan crisis, students need help identifying colleges that they can afford. The College Scorecard may have stimulated conversation on this critical issue, but it is unlikely to serve our most vulnerable students in their pursuit of affordable higher education.”

Read more in Inside Higher Ed.