College Admissions Officers Express Concern Over FAFSA Information Sharing

College admissions officers and a bevy of high school counselors have taken issue with the information that the FAFSA provides to colleges and wants it to stop. They are pressing the federal government to take action to prevent any students that apply for financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from being at a disadvantage as a result.

It has come to light by way of the National Association for College Admission Counseling that information that is entered by students on the FAFSA is being passed along to other colleges without the student’s knowledge. The issue here lies in the area of the application that asks students what schools they are applying too.

The list of schools is then viewable by admissions offices and management consultants are finding that the order that the schools are listed may be placing students at a disadvantage. Many students place the schools in order of preference and admissions offices take this as a sign that they are in turn less interested in others. This may not always be the case and can hurt the chances of being accepted into other educational institutions.

In a recent email the NACAC says, “While students may volunteer this information, the association believes that a student’s right to keeping such information private in an integral part of maintain a fail admissions process.”

The U.S. Education Department is in the process of reviewing the longstanding practices for the FAFSA and how and what they indent to share with schools.

Source:

Rivard, R. (2014, October 6). FAFSA Transparency. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/10/06/group-asks-federal-government-stop-giving-colleges-information-students-choices