Last week, the Department of Education (ED) released its final version of the redesigned Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, now renamed the College Financing Plan (CFP). First introduced in 2013-14, the Shopping Sheet was available through the 2019-20 award year, when it was offered in addition to the beta version of the redesigned and renamed CFP. While there is no set date by which the Shopping Sheet will expire, ED will only continue to annually update the CFP from this point forward.
The January version of the CFP contained several significant changes from the Shopping Sheet. It added the Institutional Methodology (IM) Expected Family Contribution (EFC), separate on- and off-campus Costs of Attendance (COA), loan interest rates, and work-study hours per week. It also broke down grant aid by source and moved parent and private loans under the “Loan Options” heading. NASFAA noted in its recommendations that not all institutions calculate an IM EFC, or an on-campus COA if they don’t offer institutional housing, and noted the difficulty of disclosing private loan interest rates or work-study hours per week since those vary and are often not within the control of, or even known to, the financial aid office. These items, however, were retained in the final version.