As a point of reference, here is the current Financial Aid guidance.
(https://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1718FSAHbkVol1Ch1.pdf)
Cheri
From: MACRAO Listserv [mailto:MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Joseph Simonsen
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 5:03 PM
To: MACRAO@LISTSERV.GFCMSU.EDU
Subject: MACRAO follow-up
Hi Amy,
I’m sorry I missed your presentation at MACRAO last week! Great Falls College couldn’t make the trip down, and I think there were some technical issues with our teleconference link. Murphy’s Law always seems to hit conference calls. :/
I did have a few questions, if it’s alright to continue that conversation over email. I apologize if these were already covered in your presentation!
- BOR policy says students must have “graduated from a high school accredited by the state accrediting agency” OR have a high school equivalency. The option given for home school students is to show “satisfactory performance” on ACT, SAT, or an approved ability-to-benefit test. This seems to indicate that no home school graduation is actually necessary, since the policy doesn’t request a home school transcript or diploma – just satisfactory performance on a test, which could potentially be achieved by a precocious 14-year-old. Am I understanding that rightly?
- The Federal Register last published a list of recognized testing instruments in 2006, and it includes tests that no longer exist. It also does not include the tests that are most commonly used across our campuses. Is the intention of the BOR policy to limit “ability-to-benefit tests” only to the Federal Register list (as it literally reads)? The FSA has published a more recent list of approved ability-to-benefit tests in 2015 that includes the Accuplacer test many of us use, but it also withdraws approval from tests that are in the 2006 Federal Register list. Please advise!
- Additionally, ability-to-benefit in its current incarnation only recognizes a student’s test scores if they were previously enrolled in a college program before July 1, 2012. Does the BOR policy invoke ability-to-benefit in its entirety, so that we can only use test scores to meet this high school requirement if the student was previously enrolled in college prior to 2012? Or is the intent of the BOR policy only to crib this list of tests without the additional requirements for eligibility imposed by financial aid regulations?
- Since the two-years schools don’t have minimum ACT/SAT scores set by BOR to show “satisfactory performance” like the four-year schools do, does that mean this option is off the table for us when we admit home school students? Or does it mean that the two-year schools are all free to set whatever scores we like and call it “satisfactory performance” for admission purposes?
- Especially with the advent of online high schools, what counts as being accredited by “the state accrediting agency”? Which state? The one in which the school’s office is located? The one in which the student resided at the time of graduation? Montana?
- Not all states give accreditation status to charter schools. This means that, for some states, graduates of charter schools have not literally “graduated from a high school accredited by the state accrediting agency” because no such agency exists with that purview. For the purpose of this policy, are those applicants treated as home school applicants, since they have neither an accredited graduation nor a GED/HiSET? Or is that not the policy’s intention and it just needs updating for the proliferation of charter schools?
- We’ve found that not collecting proof of high school completion at Admissions for all students can present a hurdle for students who are later flagged for financial aid verification. They get confused and/or they ignore Financial Aid’s contact attempts, and then they panic when their bill comes and there’s no financial aid. (Or when they try to get their refund and instead they get a big fat goose egg.) For the other MACRAO campuses, how do you handle these post-admission verification flags? Do you only accept documents at Admissions that will also suffice for financial aid verification? Or do you get your checklist done and it’s on Financial Aid to problem-solve if you rolled with an ACT score for the “high school completion” requirement?
Sorry we couldn’t make the MACRAO conference this round. I hope everyone’s having a great week and I look forward to seeing you all next time!
| Joe Simonsen | |
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