We consistently hear GW is committed to helping students pay for an education, and this fall that rhetoric proved true. After 400 students found themselves with decreased aid, the University stepped in and allocated an additional $2 million for those students. This was a laudable move by the University, and we are glad to see that GW is willing to help students who were negatively affected. However, this also demonstrates a need for students to keep up with their financial aid accounts and fill out the appropriate forms to ensure they don’t lose aid money.

Many of the 400 students who received less financial aid this year lost money because they failed to fill out additional forms after being selected for a federal audit.

While the University says that they informed students of the change, the students who came forward with less financial aid had very few options for getting the funds back. To compensate, GW added an additional $2 million to the undergraduate financial aid pool for those students.

Though the University was not required to allocate more funds to the financial aid pool, this laudable step reinforces the idea that GW is committed to ensuring that current Colonials can afford to stay at GW. When students can’t afford GW’s high tuition, even a small drop in their financial aid packages is dangerous. We applaud GW for helping these students, and for working on a way to help other students who still don’t have enough aid.

This incident is also a reminder of how important it is for students to keep up with their financial aid accounts, and to fill out all the required forms. Though GW is looking into changing how it notifies students of changes in the financial aid process, in the meantime, students need to take personal responsibility into account and make sure they will not face similar situations in the future.

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