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College affordability is one of the most talked about
issues in higher education today. So to learn more about college affordability,
I have Brad Burnett, the associate vice president
of enrollment in Student Financial Services for the University of Oklahoma.
Thanks so much for joining me today Brad. Thanks for having me Stephanie.
So, one of the questions, I think it's really important to talk about,
is how soon your office actually starts working with students on a college
affordability plan?
Well, we get them as, as, early as we can. We hope that there are other entities
and factors that have entered into
the scenario very, very early on. I mean at birth
if the parents decided to open up a 529 plan, possibly through the Oklahoma College
Savings Plan,
that means that they've been saving for eighteen years getting ready for this
day.
Those students are a little easier to, to, counsel and help.
There's also Oklahoma's Promise. If in the eighth ninth and tenth grade,
they signed up for Oklahoma's Promise and if they met the qualifications and
took the rigorous curriculum, then they come into the University with a
financial aid program already secured and in place.
As far as our office is concerned through Financial Aid Services, we
normally,
we normally interact with them starting with their senior year in high school.
They have to complete
the, uh, FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid,
in January of their senior year. They can't fill it out until their parents
get their taxes done, so many times it's not until March or April,
but as soon as they can get that tax information put together,
they file the FAFSA, the FAFSA comes to the University based on a code that the
student puts on
the application, and then at that point we can engage them. We get their
information.
We start communicating with them. We request other documentation
and eventually, then, we put together a financial aid package for them,
that we send to them, so that they'll have some idea of what
aid eligibility they have. Then they can take that, combine it with any other
resources,
have a good conversation with their parents and figure out how they're going
to,
to, pay for college.