Presently, the Financial Aid process is handled by two bodies: the Federal Government as well as the school of your choosing. They ask very few questions: What is your parent's income, what is their tax return? There is no gray area for students that are independent until you are the age of 25 - which frequently, isn't the case. It is essentially basing what you personally can afford on someone else's wage. The schools also too often affect the amount. One student receives no aid for a community college, while one with the same parent receives thousands. Some students' financial aid applications take months to verify, until the student is put into collections and billed. Others need to pay out of pocket with no reimbursement because the school wants to verify it.



