Ethics and Financial Aid

What’s Financial Aid, What’s Its Purpose, and Where Does It Come From?

• Ensure students have adequate financial resources to achieve their academic goals.

Stop Patsy Pellrunner?• Enrolled in 15 units at CR.

• Qualifies for federal Pell grant.

• Receives 2 Pell checks totaling $2,500 by week 5 of fall.

• Planning to quit school and keep the money.

• Going to “run” with the Pell, leaving CR to pay the federal government back the $2,500.

How would an ethicist respond to Patsy’s plan?

SAP: Completion and Deserving of Aid

• Satisfactory Academic Progress.

• Must complete at least 67% of registered courses to continue to be eligible for financial aid.

• 67% is minimum set by fed; could be set higher locally.

SAP: Does Anyone “Deserve” an Appeal?

• More than 70 units.

• GPA below 2.0.

• Completion rate <67%.

• “Extenuating Circumstances.”

• No appeals required.

• CR allows an appeal and secondary appeal every semester.

Ethically Managing Risk: Default Rate• Cohort: 2 years of students at CR 3

years ago.

• Default of >29.99999% = F.

• F = Default Management Plan.

• No or failing default management plan = no aid at that college (no Pell, no loans, etc.)

• CR Default 2013 Default Rate: 29.9%

Ways of Managing Risk & Debt

• Encourage students to use credit cards?

• Encourage campus presence of credit card vendors and charge them a fee that can be used to pay back Pell runner debt? (think cig tax)

• D-Reg?

• Fed. requires some kind of counseling prior to receiving loan (can be online).

• Limit loan amounts?