Download - Ethics, Prejudice and Professional Judgment
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Ethics, Prejudice and Professional Judgment
Catherine Boscher-Murphy
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Goals of this Session
• Quickly define professional judgment
• Review current statute and areas where professional judgment can be exercised
• Outline ethical and prejudicial stumbling blocks to performing PJ’s
• Interactive discussion
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What is Professional Judgment?
• Professional judgment is the authority provided under the Higher Education Act for financial aid administrators to exercise discretion in specific areas of student aid administration
• Professional judgment is not regulated by the Department of Education
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Why is PJ Important?
• Enables FAA to respond appropriately to student’s individual circumstances that were not anticipated in legislation or regulation– something unique– merits individual attention
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Areas where PJ does not apply
• Professional judgment may not be used to:
– Change a student’s status from independent to dependent
– Devise a new category of costs
– Adjust the bottom-line EFC
– Change the EFC formula itself
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Areas where PJ does not apply
– Make an otherwise ineligible student eligible for Title IV aid
– Circumvent the intent of the law or regulations
– Include post-enrollment expenses in COA (except where allowed in regulation)
– Circumvent FSEOG selection criteria
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Cases where a dependency override is not allowed
• Parents refusing to contribute to the student’s education
• Parents unwilling to provide information on the FAFSA or for verification
• Parents not claiming student as a dependent for tax purposes
• Student demonstrating total self-sufficiencyfrom DCL GEN-03007 May 2003
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Using Professional Judgment
• Some financial aid administrators (FAAs) are reluctant to use professional judgment – why?
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Ethics - a definition from the Josephson Institute
• Principles that define behavior as right, good, and proper– provides for respect for others– provides a means of evaluating and
deciding among competing options– not the same as values (which can change from
person to person and over time)
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Ethics in PJ
• Focus on circumstance that impacts family’s ability to pay
• Review entire financial situation – may be items that offset the circumstances
• Collect data from other campus staff– can they round out or complete the picture?
• Although there is no requirement that the FAA reach the same decision in two similar cases, an ethical approach suggests consistency be the guiding principle
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Institutional Issues
• Does your school/director allow for PJ’s?
• Has staff been trained?• Is there a consistent process?• Are you pressured to do PJ’s by
institutional colleagues?Admission, athletics
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Personal Prejudice in PJ
• Does your background or upbringing get in the way of performing a PJ under certain circumstances?– Let’s explore different opportunities for PJ
and see if prejudice may exist and inhibit decision making
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Objectivity in PJ
• Are all students completing same form• Are all students submitting similar
documentation• Do different staff members do things
differently
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Subjectivity in PJ• Discretionary vs. non-discretionary items
– cost of living expenses, credit card expenses, allowances
• Necessities vs. lifestyle choices– vacations, weddings, expensive cars
• Decisions made by one school are not binding at another school
• Administrators do not have to agree• Do your policies include or exclude
circumstances?• Can you make a logical argument for the PJ?
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Typical Examples of Unusual Circumstances
• Loss of employment of family member
• Separation/Divorce of parent or independent student
• Disability or Death of parent or independent student’s spouse
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Typical Examples of Unusual Circumstances
• Unusual family medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance
• Tuition expenses at elementary or secondary school for student’s siblings or dependents
• Prejudice?
• Extraordinary dependent care expenses
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Would you consider…
• COA adjustments for:• computer or computer software• trips required by the class• equipment/tools/supplies • uniforms
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Would you consider…
• Independent status:– living with relatives due to violence, abuse
but no official intervention • no court papers or DYFS involvement
– cultural differences related to higher education
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Would you consider…
• Reducing student income if they help pay for family expenses?– Student earned $12,000 last year and gave
$10,000 to parent for household expenses
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Would you consider…
• A PJ for a student who willingly and deliberately quit their job to go back to school?
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Would you consider…
• Unemployment of a dependent student?
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Would you consider…
• One time events inflating the AGI:– insurance payout– pension distribution– gambling winnings
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Would you consider…
• Reduction in over time pay?
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The Wilder Side of PJ• Subsequent year requests?
– year 1 - loss of employment– following year, loss of unemployment
benefits– what about the second year of a pension
distribution (again, to pay for basic living expenses or college)
– What about the teacher or construction worker that is unemployed every year for several months
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The Wilder Side of PJ
• How about this one?
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The Wilder Side of PJ
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The Wilder Side of PJ
• Transgender student – Unusual expenses– Surgery
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Documentation
• Documentation serves the following purposes:
– Provides information in addition to that reported on FAFSA and other application documents (e.g., third-party documentation, copies of receipts, or canceled checks)
– Provides history of student’s circumstances for future reference
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Two Types of Documentation
• One type encompasses materials collected to support the student’s request
• Other type constitutes a clear record of school’s decision, how it was reached, and the actions taken
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Things to remember:
• Performing PJ’s is optional, not mandatory• Are the decisions following the intent of the
regulation?• Decisions must not discriminate against the
student• Are multiple cases treated in the same way?
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Things to remember:
• For Dependency Overrides, the situation must be revisited each year to determine that the circumstances are still in effect
• PJ decisions combine common sense and economics with ethics
• What you do on the federal side cannot always be repeated for state grant funds
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For further review
• NASFAA Statement of Ethical Principles
• NASFAA Guide to Addressing Special Circumstances (2003-04)
• www.finaid.org