University System of Georgia joins effort to make financial aid info clear and standardized

The University System of Georgia recently joined the College Cost Transparency Initiative, joining hundreds of other schools to standardize the language around aid offered to prospective students.

The goal is make the cost of college easily understandable.

"All 26 public colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia are committed to the principles and standards for college cost and transparency in the College Cost Transparency Initiative," noted a statement from USG. "In fact, this national initiative furthers the work already being done by USG to better inform students and families about options to borrow less money while making affordability a top priority."

This initiative is part of a broader effort by USG to "removing barriers to higher education," according to the statement, an effort that also includes the GEORGIA MATCH program, which sends letters to 120,000 seniors in Georgia listing which USG and technical colleges they can attend.

You're admitted: Georgia to urge high school seniors to apply in streamlined process

It also joins the five year "know more borrow less" initiative from USG that worked to provide clear, standardized financial offer letters across all USG institutions.

The University of Georgia this week publicly embraced the new College Cost Transparency program.

"The University of Georgia has always prided itself in its financial aid transparency,” Nancy Ferguson, director of the Office of Student Financial Aid at UGA was quoted as saying. “In fact, during this initiative’s development phase, we were honored that our financial aid offer letters were submitted as examples from schools that are already meeting the initiative’s goals."

Other USG schools, such as Augusta University and Georgia Southern, did not respond immediately for a request for comment.

The standards were created through a coalition of various higher education associations, and include principles such as:

• Describing all the kinds of aid being offered in clear language;

• Display clearly the total cost of attendence, broken down by types of expenses; and,

• Explain terms and conditions of loans, including the total debt over time for federal loans.

More information about the standards are available at www.collegeprice.org/standards.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: University System of Georgia joins financial aid transparency effort