Financial Aid

Last Monday I was out of the building all day to attend a Financial Aid conference.  I have blogged about some financial aid related topics already, but I wanted to share a little more insight with you with information that I learned.

First, let's talk about Financial Aid Priority Deadlines... much like college admissions deadline dates, each college gets to establish the dates by which they would like to receive student's applications for financial aid (FAFSA and sometimes also CSS profile).  The priority deadline date is the day you would want to be sure they have your required forms completed by in order to put yourself in the position to get the maximum possible aid.  The colleges, as a whole, will continue to give out whatever available money they still have left over for those who submit their applications for financial aid later, but you are potentially dealing with less money being available.  They had a chart for us with Ohio FAFSA Priority Deadlines and I was stunned to see that there are a handful of colleges who ask for them by November 15th if students are also applying early action/ early decision.  Over a dozen more are asking for the FAFSA by December 1st... which means that if you and your parents have not yet filled out the FAFSA you may need to make that a priority in the coming week!

They also told us that with the new FAFSA families are running into problems if the student and parent haven't both requested their FSA ID in advance.  You can request an FSA ID while you are filling out the FAFSA, but they said they are hearing that it is kicking people out of the system, not saving information and then families have to start over again.  So go ahead and request your FSA ID at least 3-5 days before doing your FAFSA and please be sure to write down your user name and password because you will only use it 1 time per year and so it is likely you'll forget it later.  You can request your FSA ID by going to: StudentAid.gov/fsa-id/create-account

If you are trying to apply for financial aid, but are running into a challenge because your parents do not have a SSN, your parent will not be able to create an FSA ID so you will have to sign the forms via paper, but you can still submit the FAFSA.  Just enter all 0's for the SSN.  At the end of the FAFSA you will print the signature page, sign, and mail it in as a hard copy.

Selective Service Registration is still asked about on the FAFSA this year - all 18 year old males are required to register with the selective service.  For federal requirements, it is no longer required to have done this step in order to receive your financial aid money, but the state of Ohio still requires Ohio public colleges to confirm it so you will want to be sure you are taking care of that step as well if it is applicable.

If you are a student who has special circumstances, you will want to talk to the financial aid directors at your intended colleges.  This may be a parent's death since the tax year being submitted, significant changes in financial circumstances for your family, etc.  

Reminders:

- Parents must provide information for the FAFSA, but it does NOT obligate them to help pay for any of your schooling/ education

- If your parents are divorced and remarried, the information for the parent you live with most along with the step-parent in that home is the information which is submitted on the FAFSA

- There is a Data Retrieval Tool that can make it far easier to complete the FAFSA free of errors.  This tool also decreases the chances that you will be selected for verification.  (Verification means you have to provide lots of paperwork and copies of tax forms etc.  Colleges are given a certain number that they must verify each year and those are automatically flagged when students submit their FAFSA.)

- There are questions about student and parent assets.  When you fill out that information it is regarding your assets (Cash, Savings and Checking) as of the day it is being filled out.  So, for example, I might want to fill out that information on the day after I have paid all of my bills for the month vs the day I get paid.

- This year you are filling out the 2022-23 FAFSA and the tax information being pulled into it is the 2020 taxes.

- On the FAFSA it will ask if you want to be considered for Federal Work Study.  They encourage students to say yes.  You don't have to accept it, but it will be another possible opportunity for you down the road if you qualify.  They are not a guarantee of a job and it doesn't come off of your bill, but it can help you to earn money at various places (including professor labs, etc) to help pay for educational costs.

- When comparing financial aid offers, it is important that you really look closely at the full cost of attendance (not just tuition) and then compare the money being offered from each school based on what will have to be repaid, what won't and what will still be left over that needs covered in some way.

There was a ton more information shared as a part of the conference.  (As in they gave us 43 pages of notes plus other handouts!)  I can't share it all on the blog, but over the coming days/ weeks I will be adding even more information related to financial aid onto the Counselor website for you to be able to access and use as needed.