Photo courtesy of tkksummers, available under CC BY-SA 2.0

It wasn’t long before I realized that entering the realm of Federal Title IV Student Aid mirrors the dismantling of the Starship Enterprise.

For readers unaware, Compass is currently in the early stage for approval to administer Federal student aid. This is a huge leap forward for the school, and its one that no one will take lightly. I have been known to equate the amount of paperwork and time consumption needed to complete this process to the task of dismantling (and reassembling) the Starship Enterprise.

As a post-secondary school providing the equivalent of two academic years of training to each of our students, Compass is poised to move to the next step – certification for participation in Federal Student Aid Title IV programs.  This is a complicated way of saying that we have applied to participate in the federal programs that grant student loans.  Students who begin the program in 2010 will have better options for student aid and loans through Title IV programs.

After traveling to Dallas to participate in five days of continuous training for certification to administer Federal student aid, taking apart the Enterprise sounds like an easy job in comparison. I returned home with more than six inches of paper to read and digest. Plus, each time I search for an explanation of an unknown factor, I find at least 100 pages more to print and read.

Although we are actively engaged in the Title IV process, and students will complete the FAFSA for the upcoming school year’s awards, I don’t expect a final ruling from the U.S. Department of Education until Spring 2010. The approval process is long and arduous, but I stand firm and quote a mentor of mine who once said: “I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain.”