Financial Aid Administrators

Financial aid is crucial to unaccompanied homeless youth seeking to enroll in college and realize their post-secondary goals. Financial Aid Administrators play a critical role in directing these youth to obtaining a college education, which enables them to break the cycle of poverty and move toward a brighter future. The resources below help your institution comply with the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) of 2007 and support the McKinney-Vento Act’s intent of verifying unaccompanied homeless youth (UHY) as independent students for purposes of financial aid.

The CCRAA lists the following four authorized verifiers of ‘homeless unaccompanied youth’ status:

• McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Liaison (Colorado UHY Verification Form)
• Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Director or Designee*
• HUD Director or Designee*
• Financial Aid Administrator

* emergency shelter, transitional housing program, runaway or homeless youth basic center can verify that student would have received services (i.e., if room had been available at the time)

Resources

• Application & Verification Guide (AVG) – excerpts pertaining to independent status for unaccompanied homeless youth
• To View the Full AVG
• FAFSA basics  - The basic provisions for homeless unaccompanied youth in the FAFSA
• Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Verification Template for Independent Student Status on the FAFSA
• Making Student Status Determinations for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth: Eligibility Tool for Financial Aid Administrators  (NAEHCY)
• NASFAA documents and articles pertaining to homeless youth
• NCHE/NASFAA Higher Education Awareness Posters in English or Spanish

National and Colorado Education Contacts for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth

CDE State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth

National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)

NCHE is the U.S. Department of Education's technical assistance and information center in the area of homeless education.

• Homeless Education Hotline:
  • 800-308-2145 (toll free) or
  • homeless@serve.org

National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC)

NHLC is a group of lawyers working to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness.