HELENA — Carroll College has announced an initiative aid guarantee for prospective students.
“We’ve already done about 40 of them, so it’s off and rolling,” said Carroll College Financial Aid Director Janet Riis.
Because of the U.S. Department of Education's FAFSA processing delays, Carroll College is offering an estimated cost of attendance to possible future students.
The delays have made it difficult for students and their families to make important decisions about their higher education choices.
“So, with the whole FAFSA delay, this just puts so much stress and pressure on families. They don’t have information to make their decisions of where to attend college and the financing of education is a big component,” Riis said.
After completing the FAFSA form, students accepted to Carroll College will receive a confirmation email with a Student Aid Index (SAI), which is used to create a cost estimate for students.
The estimate includes both federal aid and a guaranteed amount of Carroll College gift aid.
The private college says they want to make sure federal delays do not disrupt student's education goals.
“The official aid offers from most colleges probably won’t arrive until April, so getting an early aid estimate is pretty important,” said Riis.
Carroll College says they are the first college in Montana to do early aid estimates that include the guaranteed amount of gift aid.
“Around the nation, I hope that other colleges also start doing it as well, so they can help their families,” Riis said.
