no FAFSA for me

deadline be damned! I have no intention of attending school for the foreseeable future so, for the time being, the FAFSA has FAFSA-shayed out of my life.

This reminds me of a string of articles I read recently regarding the "difficulty" of filling out the FAFSA. Folks were upset because they found the FAFSA confusing and subsequently a barrier to their supposed-right to attend college. The article went on to note, somewhat critically, the new appearance of an industry of FAFSA-assistants who help families "optimize" their FAFSA forms for a fee.

The whole thing supports my view that some people just don't belong in college. The FAFSA is not difficult. It's a simple exercise in checking yes or no and transferring numbers from one document to another. I admit it can be intimidating; especially for a family encountering it for the first time who is relying on it to provide funds. But it's not hard. It's not.

Maybe it should be harder. It's obviously not stopping more and more people from attending college and driving demand and price up for everyone. I know we should encourage as many people to attend college as we can and that more education is good and yada yada yada (in fact I'm a big fan of education, but more on that in a minute). But most likely, these people struggling with the FAFSA form are not going to have the most illustrious college career anyway (i.e., they won't be able to hack it and will never graduate; and since FAFSA doesn't cover nearly all college costs they may not get a degree but they will get a loan burden!).

And so what to do? Teach these kids. Anyone graduating from high school who finds the FAFSA difficult does not have the bare minimum of skills we should be requiring our high schools to provide. And I don't put the burden squarely on the high schools - what can realistically be expected to do with students who can barely read and write; the burden belongs to the entire educational system.

the end.