COVID-19: Need More College Financial Aid—New Tool

A new, free digital tool to help college students needing to adjust their financial aid was recently release by the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation. SwiftStudent is for students and their families everywhere facing mounting challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

SwiftStudent guides college students through the formal process of requesting additional financial aid when their economic circumstances have changed.

The tool is avaiable to all students receiving federal aid and does not share or sell personal data.

SwiftStudent guides users through the appeal process relating to numerous special circumstances where a student may be eligible for an adjustment to their financial aid, such as recent job loss of a parent, a medical crisis, and loss of child care or housing. SwiftStudent offers templates that address more than 14 types of appeals, accompanied by an extensive resource guide.

“Economic hardship and job loss related to COVID-19 have begun hitting college students and their families, but most submitted their financial aid applications before the pandemic,” said Abigail Seldin, CEO of the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation. “Many students will now need more financial aid to continue higher education, but too few know that financial aid appeals are possible. Thanks to our deep collaboration with 18 leading higher education organizations, we now have SwiftStudent. It’s a free, simple tool designed to help students learn about financial aid appeals and to start the process if is right for them.”

“At Montgomery College we have 55,000 students, many of whom are hard hit financially by COVID-19. The college is very pleased that there is a free tool now that can help students navigate the financial aid appeal process. The SwiftStudent letters collect the information we need to guide students properly through the appeals process,” said DeRionne Pollard, president of Montgomery College in Maryland.

“Millions of students already filled out the FAFSA this fall, well before the economic impact of COVID-19. Many students will need to ask for more financial aid when they receive their offers this April, and our members are relieved to have a tool to help them with the process. Our members strive to close equity gaps in postsecondary attainment for all students, and access to financial aid is a critical issue,” said Kim Cook, executive director of the National College Attainment Network. 

“Thousands of College Promise students who are pursuing higher education through the COVID-19 pandemic can now use the new free SwiftStudent tool to break through the paperwork and receive the federal financial aid support they need and deserve,” said Martha Kanter, executive director of the College Promise Campaign and former undersecretary of education under President  Obama.

The free digital tool SwiftStudent is powered by FormSwift, a leading provider of tools to help easily create, edit and sign legal and business documents.