Michigan's Collegiate Educational System

By Jordan Miko

Encouraging the high school youth of the United States to enroll in college and receive a higher education is a large enough task by itself. In addition to this task, however, is convincing them that the minimum twenty thousand or so investment will be worth it in the long run.

The Eastern Michigan University (EMU) financial aid office, however, has a slightly different view on why it is a challenge to get American youth enrolled in college. Getting the finances organized in order to pay for many years of university education is a tall task, and according to Gretchen Ward at Service EMU, the largest deterrent for aspiring college students is not applying for financial aid early enough, whish results in students not receiving enough money for the following semester ahead of them.

While there is not actually a set deadline for financial aid applicants, there is a roughly measured ?priority deadline? set by the university, and without enough money to cover the costs of classes, a student will have a ?hold? placed on his or her account, which results in the student being unable to enroll in future classes until the outstanding balance has been paid.
Ward went further to say that not only is the collegiate financial aid system large and intimidating, but there is also ?a learning curve? when it comes to navigating the paperwork.

According to Ward, getting an applicant to understand the Fast Track financial aid system and navigate through the EMU web infrastructure to accept loans and register for classes a huge obstacle. However, despite the hardships, Ward reports that the Financial Aid office works very hard to ensure that students get the adequate help they need during the loan application and accepting process.

To get a more broad view of how the collegiate financial aid system is perceived and felt by the students themselves, a poll was conducted, and of those questioned, three stated that financial aid concerns did not influence their choice on whether or not they would attend college. Two other individuals reported feeling that there were occasional mishaps with their financial aid, but by their senior year in college, they had begun to anticipate those problems and planned ahead. Three others reported that they did not have any financial aid concerns, as their college educations were being funded by their parents, and four other students stated that they do not have financial aid concerns, as they never seem to be loaned enough money to cover the entire cost of their classes. Two individuals, however, also stated that their lack of collegiate funding was due in part to tardiness of applying.

While some students admit to being untimely with their applications, the vast majority of road blocks, however, could be avoided by the individual universities financial aid departments. One, simple phone call or e-mail notifying the student of their upcoming financial aid obstacles and ?holds? would greatly reduce the number of students that drop out due to financial aid issues.
America?s collegiate financial aid system is in minor disarray. While not completely beyond redemption, the system is in need of repairs, but not a complete overhaul.