STUDENT-AID REFORM LEADS TO PAPERWORK `NIGHTMARE'

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 22, 1993                   TAG: 9301220021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
STUDENT-AID REFORM LEADS TO PAPERWORK `NIGHTMARE'
College-bound students and their parents face a "nightmare" seeking financial aid this spring as a result of changes by the federal government that were supposed to make the application process fairer.
Parents of high school seniors have been making frantic phone calls to guidance counselors and college admissions offices across the country because of confusion and delays due to new federal aid forms that do not meet the requirements of some states and many major universities.
As a result, many families now have to fill out two complicated forms instead of one. Some applications, due in mid-January, may not be in parents' hands for at least another week. And some schools say they may be hard-pressed to announce financial aid packages in early April, when they announce acceptances.
"For the high school seniors, it's a nightmare," said Sherwood Johnson, financial aid director at the State University at Stony Brook.
For years, the routine was relatively simple. In the fall of a child's senior year in high school, families would get a multipage financial aid form from a guidance office, take an hour or two filling it in, and send it to a processing company like the College Board. The company would forward copies to colleges.
But many people complained about the fee - as much as $10 for each copy. And some said the form was unfair because it asked the value of the parents' home. For example, in many Northeastern suburbs where real estate prices are far above the national average parents said their home's price made them look wealthy when they were middle class, and they were not about to sell their houses to pay for college.
Last summer Congress thought it had fixed the problem when it approved a new federal aid application, which omitted home value. There was no application cost for the four-page form.
But many universities - including Ivy League schools - still want the old forms if students apply for financial aid from the college, as well as for federal assistance. That made a total of eight pages to fill out.
Because the U.S. Department of Education had to work out details of the forms with the College Board, the application packages were delayed for months. And in 17 states, the process took even longer because state law mandates that forms also include data for state aid programs.
Now, board officials say they will not finish sending forms out until the end of this week. And parents may not get them until near the end of January. As a result, many colleges have extended financial aid deadlines.
At Yale University, the old date was Jan. 15. The new one is Feb. 10. Donald Routh, the school's financial aid director, said the school requires the older, more complicated form, in part because "we continue to believe that assets, and in particular home equity, are part of the measure of a family's financial strength."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB