Financial Aid Overview

Applying for Financial Aid
What Everyone Should Do
Timelines
Additional Issues

Applying for Financial Aid:
The following information will take you step by step through the aid application process, as well as give you guidance as to where you need to pay particular attention and where you should focus for best effect. They will even tell you where you need not be especially concerned. If you are reading this, you already have an "edge." You are the kind of person who will take the necessary time to ask the right questions, verify results, and in doing so, ensure that you receive the consideration you deserve. While the process of applying for financial aid may seem daunting when you first start out, it is not really all that complicated if you just follow the formula and attend to each step listed. The process was designed to be as simple as possible, and it really doesn't take much time, or effort, or training, to do it right. But, the key is that you do it right! Thousands of dollars depend on it.

What Everyone Should Do:
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It is the one key application necessary to receive full consideration for federal aid, most state grants, college scholarships, and many other private (or "outside") aid programs that require you to demonstrate financial need. There is absolutely no risk in filing a FAFSA. Filing it and applying for aid at colleges in which you are interested is the best way to get a full picture of your likely annual costs and the options available to meet them. For example, by applying you may find that a good deal of the aid offered to you is in the form of loans. But remember, you do not have to accept them merely because they are offered. Many students use loan offers as a hedge, at first declining them and then asking that they be reinstated at a later time if additional funding becomes necessary. Most colleges can process loan funds for you in a few days, even near the end of a semester.

File the FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1st of the year in which you will be entering college and before the college's priority filing date. For example, if you will be starting your freshman year in September of 2005, and the college in which you are interested has a priority filing date of March 15th, you should file as soon after January 1, 2005 as you can. This way you can assemble all your financial information for the 2004 tax year and definitely complete it before March 15, 2005. To find the priority filing date, check the school's information: it's almost always in the catalog, admissions application materials, brochures, or on line. Filing after the priority date may cost you a substantial portion of the aid for which you might have been eligible. You should heed this date even if you must estimate tax related information; you can make corrections to the FAFSA later on if your estimates prove inaccurate. So, hit the filing date target and make changes to the FAFSA later if you must. However, if for some reason you file afterward, you are still eligible to receive loans and Pell Grants, up to the last day of the academic year at many schools.

To apply, you will need to list the schools to which you would like the FAFSA sent. We strongly advise filing on line, but paper applications are available at your high school guidance office or any local college's financial aid office.

Timelines:

High School Juniors:

• Take the SAT or ACT for the broadest scholarship consideration and admissions to many schools.
• File a "practice" FAFSA, after January 1, to get an idea what your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be. This is the amount your family will be expected to be able to give you to help you meet each year's expenses. Doing this a year early will give you an additional year to plan, will position you to ask really smart questions, and will help you develop competitive financial strategies. To file your FAFSA, go to www.fafsa.ed.gov. You should leave the school code blank, since you are not going to be attending for another year and don't want this information actually sent to a college. Optional.
• Some schools offer early admissions beginning in the high school junior year. Check with the colleges you are considering to see if there is any financial advantage in seeking early admission. Optional.
• Begin your scholarship search. See the Scholarships section for details.

High School Seniors:

• Start a financial aid file. Keep important copies of all documents, on line and paper, that relate to your applications.
• File the FAFSA between January 1 and the school's priority date. File on line at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Be sure to do the following elements in the Before Beginning a FAFSA section:
  • Especially important, you must list a school code for each school to which you apply. Use the code link in this section to retrieve your school's code.
  • Apply for and record your PIN. This step by step site is excellent and will help you file accurately and easily. You may use the paper application, but we recommend the online application because it helps you file accurately and easily.
• Many colleges and universities may also require you to complete one or more supplemental applications. These forms collect information in addition to that on the FAFSA, which is used to award institutional (collegiate) financial aid. To ensure consideration for all types of aid awarded by a school, complete all required applications. Once again, failing to submit a form by its deadline may jeopardize your chances of receiving all the financial assistance for which you may be eligible.
• Check on the status of your FAFSA. If you mailed in your application, or filed electronically and mailed in a signature page, check 7-14 days after submitting the application. You can check the status of your application by either calling 800-4-FEDAID (toll-free) or via the Web at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Note that you can check the status via the Web site even if you mailed in your application. Anyone who checks their status on line must have a Personal Identification Number (PIN). We recommend that you apply for a PIN on the FAFSA site prior to filing the FAFSA, but you may apply at any time by going directly to the PIN site at www.pin.ed.gov. You can receive a PIN in three days by email.
• Some state aid programs also require additional information. Since required forms can vary from campus to campus and from state to state, work closely with the financial aid office at each school to which you are applying. This will ensure that you have filed all of the necessary forms for all the types of aid available. Reviewing college catalogs, Web sites, or comprehensive college guides, such as those published by Peterson's, can also be helpful in determining whether the FAFSA is sufficient or if additional applications are required.
  • Check on your aid application at the school. If you applied on time, you should receive notice in the time period specified by the school. If that is not clear, find out when you should expect to hear about your application for aid. Use the college financial aid office email if they have an email address; otherwise call them to check this.
• For best consideration, apply for admission as soon as the school will allow you to do so. The admissions application acceptance cycle usually begins in August, just prior to the beginning of your senior year. Check with your colleges of interest.
• Apply for college scholarships at each school to which you apply. Make sure you understand the process. Usually it is detailed in the admissions application materials. Ask questions.

Scholarships:
Don't be afraid to apply for any and all scholarships! We strongly encourage it. Many students do not fully realize their scholarship potential. Everyone is good at something, and there's usually money around somewhere to support it. Begin this search early in your junior year.

• Go to Peterson's scholarship search at www.petersons.com and click on the Financial Aid option. Then click on Scholarship Search. This comprehensive search engine will give you entry into a national database with thousands of potential scholarship sources. It will also give you many ideas as to how to refine your own search.
• Check with your guidance office at your high school. This is usually the best place to start a local scholarship search. Your best chance for receiving a private scholarship is from your local community. Private scholarships are those that derive neither from the college (institution) you will be attending, nor from the federal or state government.
• Check with your parents' employers. They may already have a program, or, under some circumstances, they may be willing to start one just for you.
• Check with all charitable and service organizations with which you and your parents may have connections.
• Prompt your parents to apply for college tax credits on your behalf. This will apply to the tax returns filed after you have begun college.

Additional Issues:

Corresponding With Your School:

• Always remember that it is the student's application. Student name, student school ID#, and the student SS# are all required on each document or communication you send related to financial aid.

  Additional Document Requirements:

• When the college receives your output from the FAFSA Central Processing System (CPS), the financial aid office evaluates the information to determine whether additional documents are required. The documents required by each school differ somewhat depending on the types of aid the institution has to offer and whether or not you have been selected for a process called verification. Your school will inform you if other documents are required. Heed deadlines in responding to these requests, if you receive them.

  Special Circumstances:

• The College Scholarship Service's CSS/Financial Aid Profile is required by select private colleges and some public institutions who use the results for institutional scholarship awarding purposes. A student must register with CSS by calling the toll-free PROFILE telephone registration service at 1-800-778-6888. A student may also register on the internet: http://www.collegeboard.com. CSS charges $5.00 for the student registration fee and $18.00 for each college listed by the student. Each college listed receives a copy of the Profile results for that student.
• There may be situations where the income information for the year requested on the FAFSA (called the "base year") does not provide an accurate reflection of your family's financial strength. Has your parent's job changed or been lost? Are there unusually high medical expenses in your family? Are parents paying off college loans for siblings? The aid administrator is able to change most data elements that result in the FAFSA Expected Family Contribution (EFC) if you can provide adequate, believable, documentation of extenuating circumstances. A financial aid administrator may, for example, make a judgment to use your projected or current-year income in the need analysis formula rather than the base year. Colleges may differ markedly in their views on what constitutes an extenuating circumstance and even on their willingness to apply professional judgment in individual cases. You must submit this information, separately from the FAFSA, directly to each school to which you are applying.