The letter finally came in the mail. Your heart is racing and you run inside to look at it. Your free application for student aid, FAFSA, report is in your hands and your college worries are about to end. The listed awards total to $22,000!

Then you look closer and your hope sinks as you realize $18,000 is in loans. How can FAFSA award you loans?

It is simple really, while FAFSA holds the hopes of colleges giving students money, it also shows the families’ expected contribution.

The listed loans seem to be sky rocketing with today’s economy. Many of the PLUS loans “awarded” to the student are too expensive for parents. They are also increasingly controversial because of their high interest rates, sometimes exceeding nine percent, and the unavailability to parents with bad credit.

Students cannot put blame on FAFSA and colleges for the economy’s troubles, but they can for their use of language. Any communication arts teacher will say that an author doesn’t put something in a book “just because.” So why is FAFSA making it seem like we deserve these loans?

Is it to hide their inability to pay for students’ needs? Does that even matter when only three percent of colleges in the country actually promise to meet all the financial needs of their students?

For me, in this case, sugar coating does not help. In fact, it makes me feel worse. The confusion in the form lies in the word “award.” All through high school seniors work hard in order to earn something; sure our high school journey benefits us in other ways but let’s face it, it all sums up to college.

Scholarships want to know what activities students have been in, their grade point average, the solid A’s they’ve struggled for and the effort their teachers see them put in so that they can give them a little something back. It seems unfair that FAFSA would psych students out and say they’ve finally earned that $18,000 loan.

Maybe students expect too much. Regardless, the theory that FAFSA is out to get all students with their confusing wording, I do feel like they need to change it.

College is already scary and fuzzy and no one needs extra stress. Some might say it’s a little nit-picky but I say its just common courtesy.

With this in mind, dear FAFSA, please do not tell me that I’ve won a loan but instead lay it out for me. Let me know I only get a small amount and then afterwards list loans I’m acceptable for. That way I won’t fret over it too much.

Times are hard and I understand. Thanks for giving me something, just don’t joke with me again.