Financial Aid: An Overview

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Financial Aid An Overview

• Presented by
• Dave Marsteller
• Assistant Director,
• Office of Student Financial Aid, The University
  of Akron
• 330-972-7032 or 1-800-621-3748

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Tonights Agenda

• Important Web Sites
• CSS Profile
• FAFSA? Help!
• The Financial Aid TimelineFinancial Aid by the
  Firsts
• What do I need to Estimate Income
• How do I estimate income on FAFSA
• How do I update income information on FAFSA
• FAFSA on the web worksheet!
• The Award Notification
• Special Circumstances
• Other Misc. Financial Aid

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Important Web Sites

• www.fafsa.gov Web site for FAFSA on the Web
  (FREE!!)
• www.pin.ed.gov Web Site to set up parent and
  student PIN for electronic signatures for FAFSA
• www.studentloans.gov Web site for completing
  Entrence Counseling for Direct Stafford Loans
  Completing Master Promissory Notes PLUS
  Applications
• www.irs.gov Web site for tax forms publications
  delineating higher education tax deductions
  800-829-1040
• www.sss.gov for registering male students for
  selective service.
• www.ohiocollegegoalsunday.org for registering to
  attend College Goal Sunday 2/13/11
• https//profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp
  CSS Profile Form

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CSS Profile

• Make sure you know if your school requires the
  CSS Profile Form and if so what its due date is.
  
• Most schools do not require this form, but enough
  do that you need to be sure if yours does or not
• Information about this is available on their web
  site and through the school of your choice.
• For more information, go to
• https//profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp
• Or Google CSS Profile

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If You Want Help Completing Your FAFSA

• If you have specific questions, the federal
  processor may be able to answer them by phone
  (1-800-4-Fed Aid)
• Your School Counselor can often provide
  assistance.
• The aid office at the college of your choice will
  always help
• www.ohiocollegegoalsunday.org for registering to
  attend College Goal Sunday 2/12/12
• Or CALL US! VISIT US! ? Well be glad to assist
  you!!!

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• Financial Aid Timeline

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Financial Aid by the Firsts

• To assist your memory
• Ive created this handy way for you to remember
  when you are doing what ?

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Thanksgiving each year (or by 12/1-ish)

• Make sure you know what/where your PIN/Students
  PIN is.
• Make sure You have a photocopy of last years tax
  return for reference purposes
• Be sure to set aside a place for
• December (end of year!) financial account
  statements
• All December pay stubs and/or pay stubs from
  previously ended jobs.

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PIN Information Checklist
Social Security Number
Last Name
First Name
Date of Birth
Street Address
E-mail Address (Optional)
Security Question
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If youve forgotten your PIN
Select the link that says Request A Duplicate
PIN
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New YearNew FAFSA

• 1/1
• Your FAFSA will be available online after 1/1 of
  your Senior year in high school.
• File online _at_ www.fafsa.gov (7-10 days)
• Note You can file a paper FAFSA (avaialable for
  printing at www.fafsa.gov) but these take 4-6
  weeks for processing not the best way to go

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February 1

• Have your FAFSA Completed and into the US
  Department of Education no later than this date
  for best results (Some schools even want 1/31!)
• So be early
• Dont wait until your taxes are done
• Estimate your income!

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  Screen clipping taken 11/21/2011, 1236
PM    
FAFSA on the Web Worksheet 12-13
Available to print at www.fafsa.gov
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FAFSA Features

• Help and Hints have question labels so that you
  know which question on the page they are
  referring to. To get help with a question on the
  page, simply select that question and the help
  and hints field will populate with instructions
  and help for that item.
• The system automatically saves the application at
  the end of each step.
• Clear All Data allows you to delete your data
  from the system anytime prior to submission. BE
  CAREFUL NOT TO ACCIDENTLY SELECT THIS CHOICE!

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Estimating your Income
To estimate your income on FAFSA, Instead of
selecting Already Filed as your filing status,
youll select Will File as your status in the
Tax information sections. (The location of
this question is marked by the X to the right
of this text.) This will tell the US Department
of Education that you are estimating your income
and that you will update it at a later time. If
you are not filing a tax return due to a lack of
income, mark this section Will Not File and
list any income as it is asked for in the
following questions. Note IRS requires filing
of returns for people who make more than certain
income levels. If you are unsure as to whether
you need to file contact a tax preparer or the
IRS at www.irs.gov or 1-800-829-1040 Provide the
financial information you have to the best of
your ability and then when you do file your
return you will probably need to update your
information (see Step 7)
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  Screen clipping taken 11/21/2011, 1241
PM    
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Dependent or Independent??
Students who cannot answer yes to one of the
questions in Section 2 are typically dependent
studentsif a student is able to demonstrate a
history of abandonment, abuse or estrangement
between themselves and their parents we may be
able to use professional judgment to allow the
student to be considered independent.
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School Section School Codes

• You can list up to 10 schools to receive your
  FAFSA information and you may add schools at any
  time after you have submitted the FAFSA.
• UAs school code is 003123.
• In addition
• if you call UAs Office of Financial Aid, our
  code is always described in our outgoing message
• it is on our web site and
• it is searchable using the code search feature
  at the bottom of the School Selection page.

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March 1

• If your school needs more information from you
  they should be requesting it during the first
  week of March (if you met the 2/1 deadline). If
  you havent heard from your school(s) CALL THEM!

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You have been selected in a process known as
verification

• NOTE 33 of students will be RANDOMLY selected
  BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION for
  verification of other information, including
  Income, Selective Service Status, and
  Citizenship.
• If you are selected you will be notified by a
  letter from our office which will be accompanied
  by forms, and directions on how to complete them!
  
• DO NOT PUT THESE ON THE COFFEE TABLE AND FORGET
  THEM! ?
• Please return these forms quickly, and provide
  the information requested.
• We are unable to process aid for you without
  them!
• IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT COMPLETING THESE
  FORMSOr ABOUT THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTATIONCall
  your school for help!
• You can verify income by updating your status
  from will file to already filed

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FAFSA Your Tax Returns

• Do NOT wait to file your FAFSA until your taxes
  are doneestimate your income!
• DO file your tax return as early as you are able
  to accurately do so.
• WHENEVER you file your tax returnDO file
  electronically! To verify tax information you are
  now required to submit a tax transcript for
  verification rather than a photocopy of your
  taxes!
• 10-14 business days after filing your tax return,
  update your FAFSA using the IRS Data retrieval
  tool to verify your information.

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Reminder

• You do not have to wait until your taxes are
  complete to file the FAFSAin factif your taxes
  wont be completed by 2/1, you should estimate
  your income (see Step 6 for information on how to
  help!)
• AND
• use the information in this section to update
  your information once you have completed your
  FAFSA!

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If you have already completed the tax return
requested by FAFSA

• you may be able to import your required federal
  tax information into your FAFSA DIRECTLY from
  your tax return!
• Electronically filed tax return information will
  be available online from the IRS site in 1-2
  weeks after the return has been filed.
• Data from paper tax returns will be available 6-8
  weeks after filing.
• This process will be available for families
  filing their initial FAFSA applications.
• Families who file their initial FAFSA with
  "estimated income" can use this process to update
  their original FAFSA data once their tax forms
  have been completed.

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Updating Tax Information in FAFSA

• Login to your FAFSA using your PIN at
  www.fafsa.gov.
• Click on the link in the middle of the page "Make
  FAFSA Corrections."

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How does it work?

• Update the answer to the question, Have you/your
  parents completed your/their IRS income tax
  return or another tax return? with the status
  Already completed.
• Directions on how to utilize this option will
  appear and offer you an opportunity to choose it.
• You (or your parents) must actively choose to
  utilize the data retrieval tool. If you choose to
  do so, you will be transferred to the Internal
  Revenue Service web site.

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Getting the Info from IRS
When a family selects the option to import the
information, a confirmation window will
openselect OK to continue to the IRS web
site. Note The FAFSA on the web site will stay
open in a window separate from the newly opened
windowdont close the original window or you
will have to log into FAFSA on the web again!
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Getting the Info from IRS (contd)
Applicants will need to authenticate their
identity before any personal information is
displayed. Information provided MUST match that
on the tax returnor the information will not be
allowed to be transferred!
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Getting the Info from IRS

• Tax data will be presented and you will have the
  option to Transfer the tax information to the
  FAFSA.
• Remember,
• Electronically filed tax return information will
  be available online from the IRS site in 1-2
  weeks after the return has been filed.
• Data from paper tax returns will be available in
  6-8 weeks.

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Remember you must re-sign the FAFSA

• When/if you update your tax information (or make
  any other correction/update to your FAFSA) you
  (and your parent if you are a dependent student)
  will need to re-sign the FAFSA with your PIN!

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April 1

• You should be receiving your Award Notification
  from the school during the first week of April.
• If you have not Contact the school to see where
  the problem is.
• READ EVERYTHING THAT COMES WITH YOUR AWARD
  NOTIFICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Award Notification
This paper describes the amount of aid a student
will receive during the next academic year.
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May 1-through June 1

• Decisions, Decisions!
• Now is when you are finalizing your school
  choice
• Make sure the school knows you are coming and
  that you want the money they offered you!!!
  Contact them!
• You should know how much aid you have, and what
  you need to do to get it! (e.g. forms, etc.) READ
  EVERYTHING that comes with your Award
  Notification and follow the directions carefully
  so you do not lose aid by missing deadlines.

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June 1 onward

• You should know what aid youre getting and know
  how much more money you need to pay for your
  school.
• If you dont know this at this point be in close
  contact with the school for assistance!

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Special Circumstances

• Contact the Financial Aid Office if there is
• Loss or reduction in parent or student income or
  assets
• Death or serious illness in family that is
  effecting income or causing unusual medical or
  dental expenses not covered by insurance
• Natural disaster affecting parent income or
  assets
• Reduction in child support or other untaxed
  benefits
• Financial responsibility for elderly grandparents
• Private K-12 tuition for younger students in
  household
• A parent attending college or other
  post-secondary training
• Any other unusual circumstances that affect a
  familys ability to contribute to higher education

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College Cost Savers

• Use community colleges/lower cost public schools
  for general ed. courses
• Commute to school! ?
• Use AP/CBE/CLEP to obtain credit for knowledge
  earned from an excellent h.s. education.
• Take advantage of College/Education tax
  deductions (e.g. Hope Scholarship Lifelong
  learning Credit etc.)
• Use School payment plans to help finance
  cash-flow issues to avoid credit card or loan use
  when possible.

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Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation
If you student, have a condition, disability,
(physical, emotional or learning issue) The BVR
is a state agency that may be able to provide
financial support to allow a student to pursue
preparation for a profession or trade that will
accommodate a students condition. Phone
numbers are available for each and every county
in the state. You can find listings for your
county by doing a web search using the terms
Ohio BVR
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Military Service

• Army ROTC
• Air Force ROTC
• Navy ROTC
• Ohio National Guard
• Benefits provided by any armed service.
• All of these options are available to you with
  all the rights, responsibilities and risks of
  military service.
• Contact your local recruiter(s) for details.

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ETV Funds (Children in Foster Care System)

• The Ohio Education and Training Voucher Program
  offers funds to foster youth and former foster
  youth to enable them to attend colleges,
  universities and vocational training
  institutions.
• Students may receive up to 5000 a year for four
  years as they pursue higher education. 
• The funds may be used for tuition, books or
  qualified living expenses. 
• Web site www.statevoucher.org
• Click on OHIO on the map to obtain information.

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AVOID Scholarship Scams

• NEVER pay anyone to assist you in searching for
  scholarshipsyou may do so yourself for free
  online, through books at your local public
  library or with the help of your school
  counselor.
• Never pay an entry fee application fee or
  membership fee with a scholarship application.