"As colleges brace for financial aid appeals, there’s a new tool to help students file them"

“A digital platform unveiled Wednesday by the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation aims to take the guesswork out of financial aid appeals. The free tool, dubbed SwiftStudent, guides students through requesting more funding, explaining eligibility, the documents applicants need and the kinds of appeals. It provides templates, powered by software company FormSwift, that let users plug in their information to generate a letter for submission to their school’s financial aid office.

“‘Students are going to be receiving financial aid offers from schools based on pre-pandemic data. It’s hard to imagine that data reflect their current financial situation,’ said Abigail Seldin, who heads the foundation. ‘There’s a process in place to go back to the school and say, ‘I’m a single parent and lost my job, but I want to continue next semester. How can you help me?’ We’re trying to make it easier.’”

View the full article in The Washington Post.