On Their Own, Without a Home, and Waiting for Federal Aid
By Eric Hoover, The Chronicle of Higher Education
On the first Monday in August, a young woman named Jessica checked her campus email, hoping to see that her financial-aid offer had finally arrived. She checked her personal email, too, just in case. Once again, nothing.
Seven months after completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, she still didn’t have the document that would show her cost of attendance and unlock the federal Pell Grant she needed to stay enrolled in college. And because she lacked an official offer, she hadn’t been able to renew a private scholarship — $5,000 a year — before the deadline, in July. Though she still hoped to receive some or all of that money, she worried that she wouldn’t get any.