Applying for Aid Earlier Would Help Needy Students, Report Says

By Justin Doubleday. What if students received their financial-aid packages earlier in the year, giving families more time to prepare to pay for college? That would be possible if financial-aid eligibility were based on two-year-old tax data, rather than the year-old data used now. A report released on Monday by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators considers the implications of switching to the older data, called “prior-prior year” data. The report, which was supported with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, explores research that was first presented at the association’s conference this past summer, and also makes policy recommendations. More...