Feature...
Are You Sure You Really Want to Ask that Question?
by Toni M. DuBois, Director of Financial Aid Long Beach City College

I've been working in financial aid for a number of years and those of you who recognize the names Judie Crummel and Gene Miller have probably been "in" as long as I have. For those of you who don't recognize those names, Judie Crummel was a Federal Training Officer for the Department of Education and Gene Miller was the Director of Financial Aid at Pasadena City College in California. Gene was also very active in the various financial aid associations and was a national chair to NASFAA. I learned a great many things from these two wonderful, retired women.

One of the lessons that Judie and Gene taught many of us over and over again was not to ask a question of the "feds" unless we were very sure we were prepared to live with the answer. I remember a general session at one of the California conferences where Judie was giving a federal update. One of the fresh new faces in the crowd stood up and asked for clarification on a regulation. Judie's reply was, "I'm not so sure that you want me to take that to the Department for an answer; you might not like what they say." Judie often advocated calling a colleague to ask for interpretation or clarification.

Gene Miller was of the same school of thought as Judie. She said that we were the financial aid professionals and that we were in a better position to interpret regulations than the Department. After all, we are the ones working with the students.

The answer to every other question related to financial aid begins with the words, "it depends." That is true for the regulations as well. It depends on the situation. It depends on the type of institution. It depends on the student. It just depends. If you want a job where everything was "black and white," perhaps financial aid is not for you. We are definitely working in "shades of gray" much of the time.

Another popular concept in the most recent set of regulations is "reasonable." The minimum living allowance for dependent students must be reasonable. Your use of professional judgment must be reasonable. You must award a reasonable amount of FSEOG to less-than- full-time students. You get the picture.

So in a world of "it depends" and "reasonableness" you have all you need to do your financial aid job. Maybe it doesn't always feel that way and sometimes you really just will not be able to sleep well until you get the answer to that burning question. But why is a person sitting at a desk halfway across the country better able than you to interpret regulations for your student population? They aren't, but if you ask the question, they will give you an answer or seek one out for you. Are you sure you want to ask that question of that audience?

Pick up the phone and call a colleague. They're probably just waiting for someone else to bring up the issue. You can share your thoughts and decide just what is reasonable.

And one final thought... do you think the "feds" just might be reading all those financial aid listservs? Hmmmm, let me think...

Are you sure you really want to ask that question?