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Change in Federal Formula Means Thousands May Lose Student Aid

As many as 90,000 students could be disqualified from receiving Pell Grants and other forms of federal and state financial assistance under a change that the Bush administration has made in the formula the government uses to calculate a student’s need for aid.

Two days before Christmas, the U.S. Education Department announced in the Federal Register that it had, for the first time in a decade, updated the amount it allows families to deduct for state and local tax payments when applying for financial aid. (Subscription required.)