Congress recently passed a new procedure called the Congressional Methodology which changes the process by which all student financial aid offices assess student earnings.

Jerry Augsburger, director of student financial aid, said all students applying for financial aid must fill out a form which includes such information as total family income, number of family members and number of family members in college.

As part of the new method, a need analysis having three parts will be used to determine a student’s eligibility for aid, Augsburger said.

The first part of the need analysis is determined by using data from the application and putting it through the new formula. This amount will generate the expected amount of parental contribution to the student. In the second part of the need analysis, 70 percent of the student’s base year earnings reflected from their tax return is added. The third part includes taking students’ savings into consideration.

Every year the office assesses a student budget and how much it will cost a student to live at NIU. This figure is determined by room, board and recreation costs. The student budget for the 1988-89 school year is assessed at $6,500, and students unable to afford this should receive financial aid.

Augsburger said the new method that all student financial aid offices now must follow was part of two congressional actions, the Higher Education Amendment of 1986 and the Higher Education Technical Amendment of 1987. These two amendments re-authorized the federal financial aid program for the next five years.

“Approximately every five to seven years, Congress makes a re-authorization of financial aid procedures and either changes, adds, amends or retracts parts of this process,” said Augsburger.

The office previously used a standardized student earnings figure for determining how much money a student should make over the summer. The previous amount was $700 for incoming freshmen and $900 for other students as an expected income for student summer employment.

Augsburger said the Higher Education Act of 1965 built the foundation for the current procedures that all financial aid offices follow in order to assess a student’s aid eligibility.

“The major difference between the old Uniform Methodology and the new Congressional Methodology is how we assess student earnings,” Augsburger said.

“Because of their (Congress’) mistrust in the Department of Education, they changed from the old method to the new one,” Augsburger said.

“Congress came up with their own congressionally mandated formula which can now only be changed by congressional action.

“Before, the Department of Education could annually review the Uniform Methodology and make minor modifications as they felt appropriate,” he said.

Augsburger said these new changes have detracted from their efficiency in assessing applications for student financial aid because they have to retrain their employees to use the new method, which “brings a clinker in our work.” He said the changes also cause a delay in telling students whether they are eligible.

Jon Dalton, vice president for student affairs, said the new method “is just one more set of changes that burdens our financial aid staff.

“I want students to understand that it (the process) is slower because of the changes in legislation by the federal government and the bureaucracy that’s involved,” he said.