America’s financial aid framework wouldn’t look much different if it were crafted by the late Paul Ehrlich, the false prophet who warned of overpopulation and mass starvation.Ehrlich wanted the tax code to discourage large families: the dependent exemption should apply only to the first two children, and a luxury tax should be levied on all cribs and diapers.The federal student loan program seems to have been created in the same spirit.
Federal subsidies have driven up the cost of college, and those subsidies are slanted in favor of having only one child — or at most two children spaced far apart.
Large families, or any families with children close in age, suffer under the current system, and last year’s changes to the federal financial aid formula made it worse for anyone with more than one child.
The 2020 law that simplified the Free Application for Federal Student Aid formula also created something of a One Child Policy.
Under the old system, you would enter your income and your assets (mostly your cash savings), and the U.S. Department of Education would calculate how much you could afford to pay for college — your “Expected Family Contribution.” Ideally, every dollar above that expected contribution would be fulfilled by financial aid, from Uncle Sam, the state, and the college.
