the institution’s enrollment goal. He or she normally has great
latitude to be flexible in deciding which prospective student
gets what level of assistance and from what category according
to the “Assistance Packaging Formula.” This latitude, literally
written into the enabling federal legislation, is called “profes-
sional judgment.” A financial aid director using “professional
judgment” can change the rules whenever it suits his/her pur-
pose. (We need Iron Crosses.)
College administrators, usually directors of financial aid,
decide which prospects “meet” (qualify) the “established cri-
teria” of the financial aid assistance packaging formula. Just as
importantly, these administrators also get to decide the mean-
ing for defining and measuring the qualifying terms such as,
“consideration, clearly distinguishable, consistent, and gen-
eral pattern” in designing the institution’s award packaging
formula. They are also given the freedom, enabled by federal
legislation, to use their professional judgment.
The coach of a powerful Division III athletic program stated
in an alumni newsletter “If private schools choose to be mar-
ginal in their ethics when it comes to awarding scholarships
and grants, they can have a pretty good financial aid package.”
And Fredrick Starr, former president of Oberlin College, stated,
“There are many gray areas in the aid formulas. And increas-
ingly, colleges are using aid to shape their classes to ensure that
they include students with all the backgrounds and talents the
schools are seeking.” I’ll let you decide what the backgrounds
and talents might be for any particular school. The fact is an
ever-increasing number of colleges are luring talented fresh-
men with special inducements like grants and loans based on
academic merit, leadership ability (you, like college admission
136 The Sports Scholarships Insider’s Guide