In an effort to help college applicants have an increased understanding of financial aid options, the Massachusetts Senate passed a bill Thursday that would require both public and private colleges to present financial aid information in a standardized way to all accepted applicants.
The uniform “shopping sheets” proposed in the bill would allow students to understand financial aid packages more comprehensively and make comparisons between the financial aid offers they receive. This will be a requirement for all institutions of higher education in the state, according to the bill.
The form, developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education, is currently used by 3,300 higher education institutions across the U.S., according to a press release from Sen. Eileen Donoghue’s office. In Massachusetts, 66 colleges, including Boston University, are included in this number.
The legislation further aims to simplify the college decision-making process so students are less intimidated by the prospect of making a major financial commitment to their higher education, Donoghue said in the release.
“Given our knowledge-based economy and the increasing costs of earning a degree, the Commonwealth needs to empower young people and their families with easily digestible data so that students can best position themselves to pursue careers free from unnecessarily burdensome student loans,” Donoghue said.
The bill will minimize the burden of student loans faced by students when they graduate because colleges will be forced to be transparent about financial aid from the start, Donoghue said in the release.
“This bill represents an inexpensive solution that starting in the 2019-2020 academic year would help students find the colleges that will graduate them on time and with as little debt as possible,” Donoghue wrote.
Maura Healey, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, wrote in tweet that these standardized forms would enable students to be more aware of their choices when it comes to higher education.
“When it comes to choosing a college, students need to be able to fully understand the cost, so they can make an informed decision,” Healey tweeted.
Speaking from personal experience, Brett Simon, 28, of Back Bay, said financial aid heavily influences applicants’ final decisions.
“I had friends from high school who had to choose college where they got the best financial aid package, not necessarily where they were accepted and most wanted to go,” Simon said.
Zac Bears, the executive director of Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, said student debt is a widespread issue that must be addressed on a larger scale, and addressing the issue of financial aid before students even enroll at college is important.
“We have [almost] 1.5 trillion dollars in student debt and it’s the second largest form of debt in the country and it’s affecting families and people everywhere,” Bears said.
Bears said the financial burden of college is exacerbated due to government budget cuts in public higher education.
“We’re also seeing historic cuts to public colleges and universities,” Bears said. “It costs tens of thousands of dollars a year to go to a public university. So, you have the high costs of college and then you don’t have an affordable option for most working people. So, if you combine those two things, a huge amount of student debt and no affordable option to go to college, then we’ve got a crisis.”
The effect of this potential requirement could have students re-evaluating how they think about colleges in general, Bears said. Because it would be a universal “shopping list,” students may see more value in going to local community colleges over private colleges, which tend to be more expensive.
“I think you’re especially going to see private, for-profit universities have a hard time justifying their existence in my opinion,” Bears said.
Ethan Goldstein, 24, of Brighton, said the transparency involved in standardized financial aid statements could also prevent colleges from changing their financial aid policies and increasing fees.
“You see a lot of colleges trying to gain the system by promising [they] will give you a huge discount on tuition, but then making it back up in fees and doing other dirty tricks that make it extremely hard to actually calculate cost of living,” Goldstein said.
Due to how dependent students can be on financial aid packages, any surprise changes can affect students’ enrollment, Goldstein said.
“Obviously given how many people require financial aid just to attend school in the first place, when they then get hit with fees they weren’t even expecting, this can jeopardize their chances of going to college, require further financial aid applications and sometimes even cause them to have to drop out,” he said.
The bill now awaits consideration in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Sarika Ram contributed to the reporting of this article.
