When do I start?
It is never too early to start looking for financial aid. Juniors should look at the deadline dates of scholarships so that they know when they are due. For a list of scholarships that we know about, please visit your Naviance account.
What is the FAFSA?
The FAFSA is an application that the government uses to determine how much you can afford to send your student to school – Estimated Family Contribution or EFC. Once completed the government will send your information to all the schools that they are told to send it to.
How do I complete the FAFSA?
First, both the parents and the student must apply for a USERNAME and LOG IN, which can be done at https://studentaid.ed.gov/. If there is more than one student in school, the parent can use the same USERNAME and LOG IN, but each student must have their own.
Second, the FAFSA can not be applied for until after October 1st of senior year. You will need your W-2 form, tax return information, and possibly other documents in order to complete it. Once all information is submitted you will receive your EFC. This is to be done every year of school – even if you are only going part time.
When do colleges want the FAFSA?
Each college may have a different deadline date. The preferred deadline for most colleges is December 1st; make sure to get it in by the deadline because you do not want to miss out on your chance of financial assistance.
What do the colleges do with the FAFSA?
Colleges look at the EFC in order to assist determining the Student Aid Report (SAR) or basically the financial aid package. The financial aid package consists of scholarships, grants, and loans.
Our family had some financial hard times last year and we need more money to send our student to school. What can we do?
Situations like a loss of a job, parent, extreme medical bills, etc. is called special circumstances. Talk to each school directly because each school has a different procedure. Schools do leave money available to assist families in these situations. It never hurts to ask for more help.