Some students may have noticed a change in their Expected Family Contribution.

On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005, also known as HERA, which made significant changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Changes were made to the formula used to calculate whether a student qualified for an automatic zero Expected Family Contribution on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Before HERA, the most a student’s adjusted gross income could be and still qualify for federal student aid was $16,000. HERA increased that number to $20,000.

“It was a beneficial change,” said Jone Zieren, director of the Office of Financial Aid. Dianna Ensign, associate director of financial aid, agreed with her. Ensign handles any questions about EFC.

The changes of HERA weren’t so simple for financial aid offices. Normally when a change is made involving federal financial aid, the changes do not apply until the following year. This time the changes for the EFC went into effect July 1, which could be problematic for colleges and universities that begin processing student financial aid Jan. 1.

“It’s for the good of the students, so even if its not timely, that’s what’s important to us,” Zieren said about how the office adjusted to the new formula.

The change did not affect the office a lot, said Zieren, because of the way the office processes student aid.

Instead of requiring each student to bring their Student Aid Report to the office, a program is run to retrieve students’ data.

“We had pulled in some (students’) files before the date of enactment so a small group of students were affected,” she said.

Therefore, only students’ aid that had been processed by the office before it was notified of the change was affected. To adjust for the new formula, the office just reprocessed the affected students’ aid.

Two new grants were also created through HERA: the Academic Competitiveness Grant and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant or National SMART Grant.

Zieren said while it’s not too late for students to apply for these two grants, the office received federal procedures for applying late. Therefore, the office is still working on the application procedures for students.

The Financial Aid Office will contact by letter students who are eligible by October, she said.