Applying for Financial Aid
Parent’s Section
You will need to help your child with the FAFSA application. In order to complete the form, your income tax filing from the previous year will be needed. The www.fafsa.ed.gov site offers you and your son or daughter the opportunity to electronically sign the application—a big time-saver and less paper work! You can also find these forms en Español. You can also find the full listing of deadlines for the federal form, and the state filing date (if it is different from the federal date).
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is your starting point for applying for federal financial aid—grants, scholarships, federal loans, and Federal Work-Study. You can get this form at your high school or college’s financial-aid office or at www.fafsa.ed.gov. You can file it on paper or electronically. Fill out the FAFSA after you have selected the school or schools to which you want to apply. Generally, by the time you are ready to fill the form out, you will have already sent out applications to the schools you are interested in. Depending on the deadlines set by these schools, you may still be in the process of submitting your application.
Information from the form helps these schools determine what financial-aid package(s) they can offer you. Other criteria go into their decision as well, such as what grant money is available at the school.
Financial aid information is available through your school or guarantor. Also, a public awareness campaign that will increase national awareness for financial aid information is coming soon.
There are 7 easy steps for completing your financial aid application:
- – Complete FAFSA
- – Receive Student Aid Report (SAR)
- – Complete additional forms
- – Receive award letter
- – Find A Lender And Sign Your Master Promissory Note
- – Accept award
- – Receive entrance counseling
Complete FAFSA
As a general rule, you can start filling out the FAFSA after January 1 for the academic year beginning that September. Remember that you must renew your FAFSA application for each year you are in school. Check with your school for specific deadlines.
Certain states may offer special financial-aid options with different deadlines for filling out the FAFSA; www.fafsa.ed.gov lists each state and its requirements.
Receive SAR
About 4 weeks after you submit your FAFSA to the federal government, you will receive your SAR (Student Aid Report) by mail, or electronically at the FAFSA website. This form gives you an overview of the information you provided on your application, and briefly outlines your federal financial aid eligibility. Double check your SAR for accuracy, and follow any instructions given on the report. You can send corrections to the federal government if needed.
Complete Additional Forms
Your school may require you to fill out additional financial-aid forms to determine your eligibility for other types of aid, such as grants and scholarships that the school awards directly to incoming students. Check with the financial-aid offices at the schools to which you’ve applied to see if they require additional information.
Receive Award Letter
Once you have completed the above steps and been accepted at a school, you will receive a financial aid award letter detailing the package the school is offering you to help cover the cost of attendance. If you have been accepted to more than 1 school, you will receive an award letter from each.
Compare the different schools’ financial-aid packages. For example, 1 school might offer more loans, while a different school might offer a better Work-Study program.
Find A Lender And Sign Your Master Promissory Note
If you are eligible for a Federal Stafford Loan, you will have to select a lender and fill out a Master Promissory Note (MPN), or a PLUS MPN if you or your parent is borrowing a PLUS Loan.
Accept Award
Once you have decided which college to attend, follow the instructions on the award letter to accept the financial-aid package. You may have to sign and date the letter and return it to the financial-aid office. Be sure to submit it by the deadline listed on the letter, or you may lose your eligibility for that award for that year.
Receive Entrance Counseling
If you receive a federal education loan, you must complete an entrance interview, or entrance counseling. This is a federally required program that informs you of all the rights and responsibilities that go along with taking out a student loan. It is very important that you receive this counseling so that you have a full understanding of your loan obligation.
Entrance counseling at your school may be conducted individually, in a group setting, or online. The financial aid office will give you specific instructions. You will receive information on the obligation to repay, how interest accrues, the consequences of default, and the range of repayment amounts based on varying amounts borrowed. You will also receive the name and contact information for a person you may contact with questions.
