Seniors forced to complete financial aid forms to graduate on stage

OPINION

Kevin Ramirez

Crimson Chronicle Reporter

Deadlines have been reached for seniors to complete their financial aid applications. Many seniors were caught off guard by the March 2 deadline.

Seniors were told last month that applying for financial aid was a requirement to walk the stage and to put it simply a threat to their chances of graduating at the Hollywood Bowl. A surprise as big as that left many confused. For the students who didn’t wish to attend a higher education after high school it left them with no choice but to apply for something that was of no use.

When speaking with a financial aid advisor outside of school through a phone call it was said that although there is lots of confusion, applying for financial aid will be a district wide requirement next year. 

If the school district came to the decision of making a new requirement why has it been enforced this year by schools on the students? The schools and districts seem to hold power over the students’ heads by threatening their chances of graduation.

Whether the students wanted to go straight into focusing on their work life or even would have very little benefit for the financial aid, that did not matter. The school applied pressure that if seniors did not apply for financial aid they would not be allowed to walk the stage.

It feels that anytime students don’t wish to do something or find no need to do something you always hear the sentence “walking the stage is not a right it’s a privilege.”

It’s highly possible that schools and the school district itself believe that requiring students to apply for financial aid is a small step to persuading them to achieve a higher education past high school. 

Not only students but parents are also affected by this new requirement. Many parents work long hours; some drop their children off at school on their way to work. Applying for financial aid is far more serious than simply inputting an email and password. When applying for financial aid you need to put in your parents taxes which is all about money. Based on how much money your family makes can affect how much money you are given by financial aid. The hassle in the process is having to be able to find time to sit with your parents and gather all this information.  

If schools are allowed to do this now and add a new requirement to strongly persuade students into making life decisions then when will the  requirements end? It was unthought of among the students and their parents that a new requirement can be instituted  in schools. 

Students now have eight classes that give them homework, classwork, and take up even more time than six classes did. Students get by everyday school days by passing their classes to meet the requirements and put in lots of work for classwork, homework, and even home life. Having more requirements be added other than passing mandatory classes causes more threat to their chances of graduation.

Many students already don’t like school, and as for a higher education, they have the choice to attend or not. The chance of adding more school years or more requirements that give students few choices to graduate seems higher than ever with this new requirement. Administrators should not only take into account what students are feeling but should consider how it will affect future generations when possible requirements get out of hand and ask too much of students giving them little choice or power.

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