UH-Hilo to receive new
student-aid forms

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

The University of Hawaii-Hilo has new college financial-aid forms on the way after the U.S. Department of Education recalled the original applications because of two errors on them.

Jean Coffman, financial-aid coordinator at UH-Hilo, said the mistake should not cause problems for students. She expects new forms to arrive within two weeks -- in time for a December workshop to help students fill out the forms.

Applications cannot be mailed before Jan. 1, she said.

While most of the 3.5 million bad forms were recovered, 100,000 were distributed, according to the Associated Press. The number of students who have the forms is unknown.

Filled out by some 10 million students each year, the application forms are the standard by which federal and state governments as well as schools decide on loans, scholarships grants and other forms of student aid.

Despite the recall, the forms were never retrieved from 61 schools. They landed at vocational and community colleges as well as universities, from UH-Hilo to Florida Metropolitan University.

The mistakes refer to information applicants must cull from previous IRS filings. The first mistake, reported to the agency on Oct. 7, pertains to students or families who file tax returns by telephone. The second was uncovered Friday -- while the agency was deciding how to fix the first error. That one seeks information about the Keogh pension plan for the self-employed. In each case, the applicant was directed to get information from the wrong line on the IRS form.