Education Dept. Gathers Ideas on Model Format for Financial-Aid Offers

By Beckie Supiano

Washington

Colleges have a lot of leeway in how they present financial-aid information to prospective and returning students. But that could change: The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires the U.S. Department of Education to develop a model format for the letters that colleges send to students offering financial aid, and some financial-aid administrators worry that the model could become a mandate.