No doubt about it, applying for financial aid takes time and planning. You need to have your tax documents in order and allow at least a couple hours to complete the application.

Some even speculate that the FAFSA  (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is intimidating enough to keep low-income college students from applying for financial aid in the first place—which is one possible explanation for the lower college attendance rates among low-income students.

Researchers are testing that theory —they've set up an experiment to address the FAFSA "fear factor" and gauge whether making the financial aid application process easier will improve college attendance rates among low-income students.

Here's how it works: The researchers have teamed up with H&R Block (the tax preparation company) to offer low-income taxpayers help filling out their FAFSA. They'll use the tax information they've collected to automatically fill in the answers to many of the questions on the FAFSA, and then they'll give personal help to complete the rest. Participants will then be tracked against a control group to see if they are more likely to get financial aid, attend college and earn degrees.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this experiment—although the final results will be years down the road. However, according to the story linked above, H&R Block tax preparers working on the study are already seeing positive reactions from the participants they’re helping.

What did you think about the financial aid process? Did you find the FAFSA intimidating?