Financial Aid 101 Webinar transcript



PSC-ED-FSA-TISD

Moderator: Christal Simms

February 18, 2016

4:00 pm CT

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time all participants are muted all throughout the duration of today's conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this point.

I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Ms. Maisha Challenger. Your line is now open.

Maisha Challenger: Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. I want to welcome you to our FSA webinar series. Tonight's webinar is going to be Financial Aid 101: Tips on Getting Money for College.

So I'm sure a lot of you out there were hoping our high school seniors. You may currently be in college. You may just want some information about tips on money for college. Well, this is the webinar for you.

Today we're going to talk about a lot of different topics, as it relates to financial aid and pursuing your post-secondary education. So today, I want to talk to you a little bit about Federal Student Aid programs.

We're going to do a FAFSA overview. Some of you have heard that word FAFSA, but you may not know what it means, or you know it's an actual application, but what do you need to do? So we're going to do a quick FAFSA overview, when and how to apply.

And then we're going to talk Federal Student Aid resources, followed by Q&A. My name is Maisha Challenger, and I work for Federal Student Aid. And I want to make sure you get a lot of great information today.

So before we begin, it's important to understand where you can look for money for college. There are many sources of money for college. The federal government, where I work, does provide financial aid.

The state also provides aid. The college and university that you attend provides aid, as well as foundations, private foundations, employers, or also professional or service organizations. So I always like to say there's federal money, there's state money, there's institutional money, and there's scholarships.

So scholarships, I'm sure some of you are familiar with, where that's money that is out there for you to go to college at no cost. So it's important to know that there's lots of different aid out there for you to take advantage of.

I want to do a quick myth - so a couple of myths about financial aid, because there's a lot of different information out there that people believe that may not necessarily be true. So here's a myth that you may have heard. The form is too hard to fill out. That's that FAFSA form that we're going to talk about, the reason that we're here. Do you think that's true or false?

Actually, the form is not hard at all. The FAFSA form is easier than ever to fill out. You fill it out online at . Okay? The FAFSA form is easier than ever. There's skip logic so there aren't a lot of questions.

The questions that you answer are based on how you answer or put in information. There's something called skip logic that we use. So, again, the FAFSA form is easier than ever and don't think it's hard, because it's not.

Here's another myth. My child cannot receive financial aid, because I'm currently in school receiving financial aid. If there's some of you parents on the line, and you're not sure about that, people think, well, if my parents are receiving aid, I can't. What do you think? True or false?

The reality is, just because a parent is receiving financial aid, doesn't mean your child is ineligible. Both the parent and the child can both receive federal student aid. So don't be dismayed if you are receiving financial aid, as the parent. Your child can also receive financial aid.

Here's another myth. My parents make too much money, so I don't qualify for financial aid. That's a big one. A lot of people are worried that their parents make too much money, so they don't qualify for financial aid. What do you guys think? True or false?

There is no income cutoff to qualify for Federal Student Aid. So here's the reality of the situation. Your parents may make a certain amount of money. Everyone qualifies for some form of financial aid. We're going to talk about the various forms of financial aid from the federal government.

There's something called grants and loans. So the reality is, your parents make a certain amount of money and they may qualify for loans, but your parents may make another amount of money and qualify for grants. Again, everyone qualifies for some form of financial aid, it just depends on the type of aid that you may receive. So, again, there's no income cutoff. Remember that.

And here's the final myth. This is a good one for you students out there. What do you think? Only students with good grades get financial aid. What do you think? True or false? And I'm looking at the Q&A box. So definitely share there if you need to, and if you have questions, please put them in there.

That is false. That's absolutely right. So while in high school, your grades are not a factor in qualifying for federal aid. However, once in college, and we're going to talk about that, you do have to maintain a certain GPA. So while you are in high school and applying for financial aid, your grades are not a factor. That's great news.

So let's talk a little bit about the financial aid program that the federal government offers. Before I talk about those programs, I want you to look at the number on the screen. There's more than $150 billion -- do you know how many zeroes that is -- that's nine zeroes -- available annually in federal aid to help students pay for college.

Our Federal Student Aid programs are in the form of grants, loans, or work study. And we're going to talk about each of those programs are. But, again, $150 billion is a whole lot of money that people don't always take advantage of, and we want them to.

So let's talk a little bit about grants. Grants are - does anyone know what types of money grants are? It's free money. It's money that does not want - that does not have to be repaid. Most people want to receive grants when they go to school.

The federal government offers four grant programs. Some of you have probably heard of the Pell Grant, right? The Pell Grant is the grant that is for individuals who have the most need. It's for undergraduates with financial need. It's our bedrock grant.

The maximum amount for Pell is actually $5,815, okay, for this year. FSEOG, that's another grant. We love acronyms here at the federal government. It's the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. Most individuals that may be Pell eligible also may receive FSEOG.

And a lot of people don't know that if they want to go onto the field of teaching, the governments offers a TEACH Grant, which is awesome. It's for undergraduate and graduate students. And once that student has completed their degree, the student must agree to teach in a high-needs field or at a low-income school. Again, there are stipulates with the TEACH Grant, but it is a grant that can be offered.

And then, finally, the Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant is for students with a parent or guardian who died after the events of 9/11, as a result of serving in the Iraq or Afghanistan War. Okay? That grant may be for someone that you know or may apply to you, but it is available. Again, money that does not have to be repaid.

So now let's talk about loans. I always ask, and I want you guys to put in the Q&A, what do you think? Are loans good or bad? Let me see what you guys have to say. As I wait for some of your - it depends. I like. Good. Both. Good. Okay. I love that you guys are interactive.

So here's the thing. I always say that loans are an investment, right? The reality is, when you're going to school, we talked about grants, but you may have to take out some loans. So we always say that loans are available, and there are some programs that we have.

You only want to take out what you need, because loans have to be what? Repaid, right? They do have to be repaid. So, after you are done with school, that money has to be repaid. And so it's important to understand that, even though you're taking it out, you do have to pay it back.

The federal government offers a variety of different loan programs. So here's the key. There are two loans. We call them our Direct Stafford Loans, that are called subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans. When you all think of loans, what word comes to mind? Most people say debt, but it's interest, right?

There is interest that accrues on the loans that you borrow from the federal government. Here's the different between subsidized and unsubsidized. And I like to share this with folks. Subsidized is where the government pays the interest on the loan. Unsubsidized, with the U in unsubsidized, means you’re responsible for the interest on the loan.

So tell me, you guys, in the Q&A box, do you want sub or unsubsidized loans? What do you guys think? Let me see what you guys have to say. The reality is most of you - exactly. You want subsidized loans.

The reality is, the school is going to offer you unsubsidized and subsidized loans while you're attending. So it's important to understand the difference. Subsidized loans are also based on financial need. Unsubsidized are not. So it's important to realize that.

There's also something called a Perkins Loan, where the institution is the lender. The unfortunate thing of Perkins is, there are no more new disbursements of Perkins as of September 30 of last year. There are individuals who already were receiving Perkins that can grandfather in, but that loan is no longer. There are no new disbursements. So that loan, unfortunately, is going away.

And then your parents. Your parents can take out a loan on behalf of you while you're in school, if you need loans. The parents do pay the loan back, and the loan is also based on credit. So for the parent - we call it the parent PLUS loan. That is where the parent will pay the loan on behalf of the student.

The student is not responsible for that loan, and the parent has to pay that back. So, again, those are our loan programs. I did talk a little bit about subsidized and unsubsidized, but this is another chart that really talks about who it applies to and the amounts that they are up to.

So, again, as I mentioned, and this is key, you're going to see this when we talk about - we're going to talk a little bit later about your financial aid award letter, what will be listed. And subsidized and unsubsidized loans will be there.

We talked about interest. Remember, I said earlier what word is affiliated with loans? Interest. There are interest rates affiliated with each of the loans that I've discussed earlier. And those interest rates are for the month of July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.

So these are the interest rates. For Perkins, it's 5%. For federal Stafford Direct Loans, we talked about, for subsidized, it's 4.29%. And these are fixed rates. And unsubsidized is 4.29%.

And then, for the PLUS loan, which is for the parent, and actually the graduate student that may want to take out a loan, it's 6.84%. Now these loans, or these amounts, will be active or current up until June 30 of this year.

Congress is the entity that decides what those loan amounts will be. So we want you to stay tuned, because those can change every year. So it's important to mention the interest rates, because that's how the interest will accrue on your loan.

And then repayment, I just want to talk briefly about that. A lot of students and parents maybe may think once I'm done with school, I've got to pay back all my loans in one lump sum. That's not the case. There's a grace period, and then there's a repayment period.

A grace period, where, for example, as you can see on this chart, for your Stafford loans, you have six months after school, okay? So it's important to understand that you can - there's a grace period. The loans are not due right away.

And you don't have to pay it all back in one lump sum. There are repayment plans that you can enter in with federal loans that will give you a monthly payment. And we have a variety of different repayment plans available. So, again, don't be dismayed. We don't want it all back right away, okay?

And then work study. What work study is, is you work part-time to pay off your college and education expenses. Work study is a check on the FAFSA form. There is a specific question that asks you, do you want to be considered for work study, yes or no?

We encourage you to always say yes, because, again, that's money. It's financial aid that you can use for whatever you want. So you can use that to pay off tuition. You can use that to buy a computer. You can use it for whatever you need.

But, again, it goes towards your educational expenses. It can be off-campus or on-campus, and, again, it is part-time. I'm sure some of you out there listening may have participated in work study, and I hope it was a wonderful experience.

So we've talked about the three programs that the federal government offers: grants, which do not have to be repaid; loans, which we know are an investment, right, but do have to be repaid; and then, work study, where you work part-time while you are attending school.

So how do you get access to all of this money? Remember, how much money is out there? One hundred and fifteen billion dollars. What you have to fill out is the FAFSA. I know it's a hard word to say, but if you say it three times, FAFSA, FAFSA, FAFSA, you can get it.

So it's an acronym. Let me see if you guys know what it stands for. In the Q&A box, you guys tell me. What does the first F stand for in FAFSA? Uh-oh, I just told you. It's free. It's not federal, it's free.

What do you think the A stands for? Application. What do you think the next F stands for? Federal Student Aid. It is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is at no cost to you to fill out this form.

And we want you to, because, again, that is how you get access to all the aid that we talked about previously, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Remember the website, .

And here we go. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like when you go to . As you can see, if you want to start a new FAFSA - so for you high school seniors, that's where you would start a new FAFSA.

And then return users. We're going to talk about this, but when you are in school, you have to fill out the application and renew it every year. And so for a return user, you would go to the right and log in that way.

We're going to talk a little bit about some other things on the screen, because if you look at the top, there's a little lock that says FSA ID. And so we're going to talk about what that is in a little bit, but you need an FSA ID, which is a user name and password, to complete your FAFSA.

But this is what the website looks like, . Also, the FAFSA application is available in English and in Spanish. So, just very quickly, what do you need - this is a quick FAFSA overview.

You must complete the FAFSA every year, as I just mentioned, to receive Federal Student Aid. I mentioned an FSA ID. That's how you sign your FAFSA. Both the student and the parent both need an FSA ID, which is a user name and password.

And then students are encouraged to file their FAFSA as soon as possible, starting January 1 of their senior year in high school. And that's going to change, and we're going to talk about that in a minute.

So for the 2016-2017 FAFSA, hopefully, some of you have already completed your FAFSA. Let me know on the Q&A how many of you have completed your FAFSA already. For those that have not, you still have time.

And then, the earlier, the better. Some money is first-come, first-served and some money is guaranteed. So you want to take advantage of that large pot of money as soon as possible. So FSA ID, I mentioned that earlier.

For some of you, who may be revisiting the FAFSA and have heard what the FAFSA is already, you've heard of a PIN. That's a personal identification number. That's what you used to use, both the parent and the student, to sign their FAFSA. The PIN is gone.

We got rid of the PIN, and it's been replaced with an FSA ID, which is a user name and password. Again, security is the reason. Again, a lot of people have lost their PIN, or you've heard of a duplicate PIN.

And so we want to make sure that, because there's so much money being provided to students around the country, that we secure this information for them. And so that's why we came up with an FSA ID username and password.

Again, this is what's required to sign the FAFSA online. The student and the parent both need separate, unique FSA ID username and password. Okay? I want to go back very quickly to the FSA ID, because there are also a couple of other things I want you all to know about the ID.

There is an email that you don't have to have, but that you can affiliate with your FSA ID. If you happen to forget your FSA ID username and password, there's a secure code which is sent to your email. And then once you get that secure code back, it'll help you unlock your username.

There's also challenge questions associated with your FSA ID username and password. Those challenge questions help you secure your information. So there are, for example, the challenge questions. There's a dropdown menu.

There are actually questions you can create on your own. And there's actually even a date that you have to provide. It can't be your birthday, but there are some other dates out there that you can use. For example, it can be graduation. It can be prom. It can be Christmas.

There's just ideas out there that you will need. But the challenge questions and a potential email you can use for your FSA ID. Again, the parent and the student need it. Now, if you are new user for your FSA ID, you can fill your FAFSA out right away, but there is a Social Security verification.

You do need to provide your Social Security number, and that's one to three days. But don't worry, you don't have to wait for the Social Security verification to use your FSA ID. You can use that to fill out your FAFSA right away.

You can go back into your profile for your FSA ID username and password and see that your Social Security verification has been completed. And, again, if you need to edit or change any information, you can do that with your username and password, as well.

So, again, I just wanted to share with you all that if you have not created an FSA ID, you can do that now. The website you can use if fsaid., or when you're in the FAFSA form, at the top, you can click on that link and fill out your FSA ID username and password. Okay? I wanted to share that with you, because that's really, really important.

Now, there's another huge change that some of you may have already heard about, and I wanted to share that with you. For you high school seniors, let's talk to you, you guys, hopefully, have filled out your 2016-2017 FAFSA. And if you have, you started filling it out when? January 1.

So here's the first major change. The FAFSA, which has come out January 1 for a very long time, is no longer coming out in January. It is now going to come out in October. So here's what I'm going to share with you.

You high school seniors, remember I said you have to fill the FAFSA out every year? You're going to be freshman. So, in October, you need to fill that FAFSA out again. So in this year only, there's going to be a FAFSA that you will out in January, but there's also going to be another FAFSA, the 2017-2018 FAFSA, you're going to fill out in October.

And that's just for this year. Moving forward, you're going to fill it out every October instead of January. Okay? Important to know. That’s the first change. The second change, and we're going to talk about that, is tax information. We do need your parents' tax information.

So for the 2016-2017 FAFSA, we used the prior years' tax information, which would be 2015. Well, for the next FAFSA, which is coming out in October, the 2017-2018 FAFSA, we actually, instead of you using prior years' information, are going to use something called Prior-Prior Year information.

So we're also going to use 2015's information for the 2017-2018 FAFSA. So for this year, you're going to have the 2016-2017 FAFSA, where you use 2015's information. And then for the 2017-2018 FAFSA, you're also going to use two years, or Prior-Prior Year's tax information for 2015.

And that’s the way it will be for every FAFSA cycle moving forward. That’s going to help, because a lot of you, when you talk about taxes, and we're going to talk about that, have waited. And they don't fill their taxes out right away.

So now that we'll have two years' prior tax information, that information can be used. And you don't have to worry about whether your taxes have been filed or not. Important information that I wanted to share with you all. Again, if you have questions, put it in the Q&A box, and we'll answer them once we conclude the presentation.

So let's get back to FAFSA, because I thought it was really important to share with you the change, as far as when the FAFSA was coming out. There are some basic eligibility requirements for the FAFSA, and I want you guys to know what you need.

You just have to have, for students, a high school diploma, GED, or homeschooling. We do need your Social Security Number. They will ask for your address. You must be a US citizen or an eligible non-citizen. There are individuals who are here on a specific visa or have a green card. Eligible non-citizen are those individuals, and they do qualify for Federal Student Aid.

I will say this, if you are not a US citizen or an eligible non-citizen -- you all have heard the term undocumented -- undocumented students do not qualify for Federal Student Aid. However, they may qualify for state aid or institutional aid. I would check with the institution or the state where they're applying to go to school to see if they qualify for state or institutional aid, but undocumented students do not qualify for federal aid.

And if you're a male, you must be registered with the Selective Services. Now, also, students have to be enrolled or accepted into an eligible program. They must be pursuing a degree certificate or a credential. A lot of times, people want to apply for financial aid, but they're not actually going to school. You've got to be pursuing a degree.

And then you must maintain satisfactory academic progress. So remember earlier, in the myths, I asked you guys only students with good grades get financial aid, and you guys knew that was false.

And I said to you, while applying for financial aid your grades are not a factor. However, once you are in school, let's be honest, you can't get Ds and Fs and still think you're going to receive financial aid.

The school has a GPA that you must maintain in order to still receive financial aid, and that's called Satisfactory Academic Progress. The financial aid office will let you know what that is. And you don't want to lose your financial aid.

We want you to get good grades regardless, right? But we also don't want you to lose the aid that you're receiving. So it's important to understand, once you're in school, you have to maintain satisfactory academic progress. And the financial aid office will let you know what that is.

Now, here's another critical part of the FAFSA form. When you fill out the FAFSA as a student, you fall into one of two categories: independent or dependent. If you are dependent, that simply means you're dependent on someone else. You're dependent on mom or dad, or just mom or just dad, or mom and dad, or any type of parent, okay, adopted, biological.

So those are the individuals. If you are - if you're parents are married, that you put on the FAFSA form. However, there are some criteria that would make a student independent. So here's some of the criteria: if you are 24 years or older; if you're married; if you're pursuing a master's or doctorate program; if you have children where you provide half support; if you're in foster care; if you're an emancipated minor; if you currently, or were at some point, in legal guardianship; if you're homeless or self-supporting; or if you're a veteran or serving active duty.

You would be considered independent. And what that means is you do not provide parental information. So this information always garners a lot of questions, but here's what I want to say. A lot of the terms here, emancipated minor, legal guardianship, being homeless, these are usually circumstances or categories that require court-order documents to support what you are saying.

And so here's what happens. If you are deemed independent, there's something called verification, where the school that you are applying to will ask for supporting documentation to justify the category that you are checking.

So if you are homeless, there may be a court-ordered document or legal guardianship or there may be a letter that a guidance counselor may have to write for you. The school will tell you, if you are tagged for verification, what supporting documentation they need to verify that you are, indeed, independent.

Now, here's another thing. People want to make themselves independent, because they're like, "I'm just not living at home with mom and dad. I'm living on my own, just because." That does not necessarily make you independent. Actually, it doesn't make you independent.

Just because you're living with your boyfriend, that doesn't mean you’re independent. For the FAFSA form, we need your parents' information. Now, there is something that we call special circumstances, and a lot of people say, "Well, what if I live with my aunt? What if I live with my grandmother?"

Maybe you don't know your parents' whereabouts. Maybe your parents are actually incarcerated, or maybe you've left home due to an abusive family environment. These circumstances, again, must be well documented, because the school will ask you for this information.

The financial aid office has the final say and can exercise something called professional judgment, or PJ, where they will look at the information, if you cannot provide your parents' information.

So I kind of want to speak to this, as well. If your parents just don't want to give any information, like they just say, "I don't want to give anything," and it's not a special circumstance, you only qualify for unsubsidized loans. And you guys remember what that is, right?

That's when who's responsible for the interest? You are all responsible for the interest. So you're losing out on all types of additional aid. You're not getting subsidized. You're not looking at any grants. You're not looking at work study. You are being removed from a larger pot of money.

So it's important to understand and let your parents know we need your information to fill out this form. So we want to encourage parents to put their information. For special circumstances, if you don't have your parent's information, you'd submit your FAFSA.

The school would look at the form, and then talk to you. And based on the information that you provide them, they will exercise professional judgment and award you aid based on your circumstances. Every circumstance is not a special circumstance.

On the FAFSA form, just like it has on this slide, we provide information as to what, for FAFSA purposes, are special circumstances and what would not be deemed special circumstances. So it's important to read the FAFSA when you're going through it and give as much information as possible.

Now, we talked a little bit about it earlier when we talked about tax information. As I mentioned, the new FAFSA cycle and tax information we need from your parents. That is how the schools determine how much aid a student can receive.

They look at the income tax information, so we need your parents to file their taxes. For the 2016-2017 FAFSA, your parents need to have filled out taxes for 2015. Now, what we normally tell people is - a lot of people wait to file their taxes.

So it's February, and some people wait until April or March. And if you wait, remember I said some of that money is first-come, first-served. You don't want to wait. And so, what we tell parents is that if they hadn't filed their taxes as of yet, use 2014's information and then, once they file their taxes for 2015, go in, make corrections and update their information.

So for 2016-2017 if they haven't done their 2015 taxes yet, they can go in - tell your parents, don't wait. Use 2014's information and then, once they actually file their taxes for 2015, go in and make corrections.

Now, remember I talked to you earlier about that 2017-2018 FAFSA, which is coming out not next January, but in October. For the 2017-2018 FAFSA, remember we're now wanting, what year? 2015's information.

So you won't have to worry about - you won't have to worry about tax information for this year. We're going to use 2015's information for the upcoming cycle. Okay? So, again, I know it's a little confusing but I hope you guys are following me. Tax information from your parents are important.

We also don't ask about your parent's mortgage. We don’t ask about 401K. There are specific questions about untaxed income. We have specific questions about child support that may be received, child support that may be paid.

Check the box if it is applicable to you. If it is not, then don't check the box. It's important to read all the questions. On the FAFSA form, there's something called the Help and Hints Box, which is really, really helpful if you're unsure what the question is asking.

Once you click on a question, if you look at the Help and Hints Box, it will tell you exactly what the question is asking. So, again, use the resources that we give you when you are filling out the form.

And then here's another great tool that we provide to individuals filling out the FAFSA, the IRS data retrieval tool. And what that is, is you transfer tax information directly into your FAFSA.

So for individuals that have filed their taxes, what you can do is actually when you're filling out the FAFSA form, extract your tax information directly into the form. A lot of times some individuals don’t have their taxes right in front of them, and that's why this tool is amazing.

It usually takes two or three weeks for the information to become available in the IRS data retrieval tool. So, for example, if you filed your taxes today, your information will not be in the tool tomorrow. Again, it takes two to three weeks. But, again, it's a great way to have your information with you.

The schools love it because they know it's authentic. It's coming from the IRS. The tool is actually available now. But, again, remember, it may take two to three weeks, and you don't have to use it, okay? It is not mandatory. You can still manually put the numbers into the FAFSA form. But for those individuals that used it, they like it, and it's a great resource to have.

So now that you know a little bit about the FAFSA, what I want to do is talk to you about what to expect once you complete the FAFSA form. So we filled out the FAFSA. We put some great information down.

Here's a high-level overview. The student will complete the FAFSA and sign it with their FSA ID. Remember, we talked about this? The student and, if the parent fills it out, both the student and the parent will sign the FAFSA with an SSA ID username and password.

The FAFSA is processed by FSA. That's the organization I work for, Federal Student Aid. The student will receive a SAR. A SAR is an acronym. It stands for Student Aid Report. I'll talk a little bit about that.

The college will then receive the information listed on the FAFSA. The college will review the information and assemble an award package for the student. The student will review the award package, compare it to other reward letters, and then the student will determine which college they want to attend.

So a couple of things. On a FAFSA form, you can put up to 10 schools at a time on one application, up to 10 schools. Now, you may ask, what if I have an 11th school? What if I have a 12th school? You can actually remove one of the schools and then add another one in to replace it.

So if you have 10 schools listed and you want to add an 11th school, all you would do is look at that initial list, remove one of the schools, and then put in the new school, that 11th school. It won't erase the existing information. It will just add the information you're putting in. So remember that you can do that.

Also, the SAR that I mentioned, the Student Aid Report, what that is, is kind of an indication of you completed your FAFSA and there's an index number. And it's called an EFC, an Expected Family Contribution. That's that number that the school will use to determine how much aid you can receive.

That SAR will then tell you, maybe you may receive a certain amount of money in Pell, as far as Pell. You may receive a certain amount of money as far as loans. It's just telling you what you possibly, potentially may receive. You have to wait then for that financial aid award letter from the school.

Now, let's say you filled the FAFSA out today. I would follow up with the financial aid office. Your financial aid letter can come via mail, or it can come via a web portal. Sometimes a lot of universities will have a web portal. And they'll send that to you where you can look at the aid that they will offer you, if you choose to go to that school.

So it's important for you all to follow up. Again, if you haven't heard or received a financial award letter from the school and it's been two or three weeks, I would follow up with the financial aid office at the school and ask them, have you sent my financial aid award level? What's the status of my letter? Because, again, they are already dealing with existing students, and then they're looking at new students.

So it's a lot of time and they're trying to do their best to send out the financial aid packages, but at the same time you should be proactive, as well. So, again, you're filling out our FAFSA.

You're going to receive a SAR via email or in the mail, and then the school will get your information, assemble an award package, and look for that award packaged to decide how much aid.

Now, we do say this. For the schools that you list, it's important to put not just one school, and here's why. Different schools are going to offer you a different amount of money. So your first choice may be - they may offer you $15,000, but your second or third choice may offer you $30,000 or $40,000.

So you need to be smart about deciding, well, if it's about college costs and what I can afford, you know, your first school may be your top school, but other schools may offer you additional aid. So just take all of that into consideration when you're making a decision.

So we talked about this, but I want to make sure I reiterate. After the FAFSA, remind students to check their emails and regular mail for their SAR. Update or make corrections to the FAFSA. This is important too.

If there's an error and you're looking through your FAFSA form and realize that you made a mistake, you can go in and make corrections to the form. So it's okay if you have made an error. You can definitely go in and make corrections.

Be proactive and follow up with the school. We talked about this. And then, scholarships. Remember I talked about the types of aid that's available for you. The federal government, the state, the institution, and then there are scholarships. You can always look for scholarships. So just because you have applied for financial aid doesn't mean you can't apply for scholarships.

Financial aid and scholarships go hand-in-hand. Some of you may receive athletic scholarships. You can still receive an athletic scholarship and still receive financial aid. So it's important to always look for additional aid that's out there for you, because college costs are high, right? And we need all the help we can get.

So here's a breakdown of college costs, because, as I said, college costs are high. A lot of times, when we're thinking of schools, a lot of people, when I ask them, I'm like, "Well, how much does this school cost?" And they may say, "Oh, it costs $20,000." But the reality is that $20 thousand dollars is just tuition and fees.

When you're looking at schools, you need to look at the full cost of attendance. The full cost of attendance includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, equipment, transportation. You may want to go home on the holidays.

Your books cost a lot of money, and room and board, and personal expenses. And, so, when you add up all those expenses, instead of it being $20,000, your real cost of attendance is $35,000. So that's what you need your financial aid to potentially cover.

Remember I mentioned EFC? It's an index number. It's your parent contribution, plus the student contribution. That index number, it's a formula. It's what, based on all the information you put on your FAFSA, an index number is created to identify you. And the school uses that to determine how much aid you can receive.

And then the cost of attendance, minus your EFC, is your financial need. That's what you will receive -the financial need is what - the full cost. So, for example, $35,000 is your financial need, because $20,000 is just the tuition, but you want to look at the full cost. And, hopefully, the cost of attendance minus the EFC will meet that financial need.

Here's another thing I want to reiterate. Financial aid is assistance. The reality is, and actually let's go to the next slide, because I think this will help show you want I want to talk about.

Here's an example of what an award letter may look like. Your financial need is $16,000. You've got $2,000 in scholarships. You've got an institutional grant. You've got federal grants. You've got state grants. So when you add all that up, that's $11,000.

So you've got $11,000 in free aid, and then the loans, which still count as aid, you receive $2,000. So that total aid that was given was 13,000, but your need is 16,000. So there is a gap. That unmet need is $3,000. That is where you have to figure out where you're going to find that money.

Financial aid doesn't always cover all of your financial need, and I think a lot of people sometimes believe that's the case. They think, well, it's going to cover everything. But a lot of times, there's a gap. And when there's a gap, what do you do?

You've got to look for some more scholarships. I would also encourage you to talk to the financial aid office. Maybe there's some other aid available. That's not always the case, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Again, there's a lot of aid and scholarships out there, but you have to be proactive.

So, again, this is a great example of your financial need and the unmet need that may occur. And so, if there's a gap -that $3,000 - you've got to figure out where that money is going to come from, because that's what you still need to attend a school.

And, so, I'm hoping that was really helpful. That was kind of a quick overview of the FAFSA and also the process, dependency status, whether you're independent or dependent, tax information we need from the parent and also from the student, if the student as worked, and then the process after from beginning to end, what you need to be looking out for.

You need to be looking out for the award letter. You need to talk to the financial aid office. Then you need to be looking at the full cost of attendance, not just tuition, but room and board, transportation, books. That's what you need. That cost of attendance minus that EFC, that index number, is going to be your financial need.

So, again, quick overview of what we've already discussed. So now, unfortunately, I'm not here all the time. So I'm not at your fingertips. So if I'm not here, where can you go to get information about what we've already talked about, or if you have questions moving forward? I want to share with you some of our Federal Student Aid resources.

So a lot of the information that I've talked to you about today can be found on . Some of you - has anyone been to the site? Actually, let me know in the Q&A box. That is a great site that gives a lot of good information about all of the various steps in the financial aid process.

As you can see, for the screenshot, it talks about preparing for college. It talks about the type of aid. It talks about who gets aid. It talks about the FAFSA. Remember, the FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. And then it also talks about how you manage your loans and repaying your loans.

A lot of people wonder, well, if I do have to take out loans, what do I do once I've taken them out? This site is amazing. We also talked about interest rates earlier, right, and how they may change after June 30th of this year. You can go to and, actually, at the bottom left-hand corner, there's something in gray that's labeled Announcements.

You can go there and see if any of the interest rates have changed. And, actually, next to it there's only - it says recent changes. So a lot of great information is here. So it's important to note that even if you can't - even if there's not a webinar readily available, this page has a lot of great information for you.

And then, social media. A lot of us use social media quite a bit, right? We are on social media more times than we realize. Federal Student Aid has a lot of great social medial tools available to you. We have a Facebook page. How many of you out there have a Facebook page? Show of hands. Well, actually, tell me yes or no.

We have a Facebook page. On that Facebook page, we give a lot of great information about Student Federal Aid. We give a lot of great information about how to manage a loan. Any type of topic that you're thinking of, questions you may have. A lot of that information is answered on your Facebook page.

And then we tweet, which is awesome. We have a Twitter page. Some of you have Twitter accounts. As you can see, it's Twitter @fafsa. When we tweet we, again, have - send out different messages regarding the financial aid process. What do I need on my FAFSFA?

Again, we also have something called office hours, which occur every last Wednesday of the month, and there's a different subject matter. So, if you're curious or, again, you want to ask your own personal questions, you can tweet us during office hours or just go to Twitter @fafsa to ask your questions.

And then, finally, we have a YouTube page. This page is amazing. Have any of you seen our YouTube videos? The YouTube videos are great. They are -- I call them bubble people -- but it's literally these kind of these figurines that talk about the financial aid process. They are one-to-three-minute videos that talk about a variety of different subject matters.

We talk about repaying your loans. People are like, what do you do? We talk about what is FAFSA. We talked about what's required on the FAFSFA, what happens after you fill out the FAFSA. There's a lot of great YouTube videos that can help you guys understand.

Let's be honest, people think - people actually know, or feel like it's a lot of information. I've given you a lot of information in a short period of time and it's really hard to figure out all the various steps. So we want to simplify it for all of you out there.

We want you to understand that, although the financial aid process can seem laborious, it really is not that bad. And so, we give you videos. We have a Facebook page and a Twitter page, so that we can answer questions and give you information to help you along the road, because we want you to go to college. And we want you to understand that there's assistance out there.

I want to share with you a couple of other resources that may be really beneficial for you. College Navigator. So what College Navigator is, is a website where, for some of you, you are not sure where you want to go to school. So you want to find the right college for you. This is the website to go to.

College Navigator, as you can see on this screenshot, you can put in what type of school you're looking for. Are you looking to receive a bachelor's degree, associate? What type of institution? Public? Private? Two years? Four year? And what state?

College Navigator will give you all that. It's a search engine for the variety of different schools that are out there. Some of you may not be sure where you want to go, but you have an idea of your major, or you know the state you want to go to, but you're not sure what's out there. College Navigator will give you that information.

And you can also Google College Navigator and it will come up. So, again, use the tool if you're not sure where you want to go. I wish I had this, because it would have helped me figure out maybe the school I wanted to go to.

So, again, lots of resources that are out there. And then, College Scorecard. This is an online tool that makes it easier for students and family to compare colleges by looking at a variety of different information: graduation rates, default rates, retention rates.

A lot of times, people want to go to different schools, but you need to look at the retention rates and graduation rates for these schools. College Scorecard will do that. You can look up the school size. You can look it up via zip code. You can look it up for the state. You can look at a campus setting. You can look at the region.

This is a great tool to help you when you're trying to figure out, what's the best environment for my child, and what's the best environment for a student? So, again, College Scorecard is a great tool, collegescorecard.. That's where you want to go.

And then, the Department of Education does not give scholarships; however, we have a link with the Department of Labor where you can now link to their website and look for scholarships.

, if you type in scholarships, that's where you can look for ways to look for scholarships. There's lots of different ways out there. There are books, but, then, you know, use the different search engines online.

Different department stores, Target. Coca-Cola gives scholarships. Department stores. The next time you're out, or in any type of retail store, go in and ask them, do they have money for college. Again, you never know, and that could be money just waiting for you just by simply asking.

So we just want to share with you that, again, we have a link with the Department of Labor. If you look on our page, click on the link, and it will take you to their search engine, as far as scholarships.

And then, finally, we, at the Department of Education, have a 1-800 number, 1-800-4FEDAID, 1-800-433-3243. That is where you can call, Monday through Friday, and actually on Saturday and Sunday. I've listed those hours, because this is peak FAFSA season. We want everyone to be filling out their FAFSA now.

We have operators that speak English and Spanish that can help you with any questions that you may have about your FAFSA. I do, also, want to reiterate that when you are in the FAFSA, we have a live chat, so that if you are stuck on a question or you're unsure how to answer a question, someone can help you.

1-800-4FEDAID is amazing. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I'm not going to be here all the time. Right now you guys have me, but if you have questions after this, call the 1-800 number.

They'll be able to help you, again, Monday through Friday, and even on weekends, because, let's be honest, some of you are probably going to fill out your FAFSA on the weekend and you want help. Call the number and they'll be able to help you.

So that concludes my presentation. I think I gave you guys a lot of really good information. So now what I want to do, because we've got about 10 minutes left, is try to answer some of the questions you guys have given me. So let's take a look, shall we?

Let's see. SAR means what? We've talked about this. SAR means Student Aid Report. That basically is the application - or, not the application. You're sent that via email, if you provided an email address, or via mail.

It basically looks like a letter. It gives you your EFC number at the top and then it tells you it's either Pell money that you may receive via the grant, or it tells you the type of loans, as far as the amount you may get.

It's not your award letter. Remember, it's just something that the school issues, something to let you know that here's your SAR. Look at all the information you put on the FAFSA, and then the financial aid award letter is coming after that. Okay?

Will the removed school receive the new info? So, yes, if - someone asked about if you take a school out, will it remove the initial information? It absolutely won't. The initial school's information will be there and then the new school's information will be there.

Here's a good question. Someone says, "How do you read your EFC?" So the EFC is a six-digit number. Most people that have an EFC of zero are individuals that have the most need. So the school will look at that EFC of zero and determine how much aid they can offer.

There's not really a way to read the EFC. There's no way to tell that if my EFC is 000245 that you're going to receive X amount of dollars in financial aid. It just doesn't work that way. That is a number for you to know, but it's a formula. There's no way to decipher how they come up with the number.

But once the number is formulated, the school will use that to determine the amount of aid that they can give to the student. So I hope that helps. Yes, there's no - you know, I think people want to figure out how can I find out. And I think that's where you have to be proactive with the school.

There's no time limit that the school has to give you, as far as the financial aid award letter. I think that's really key. A lot of people are wondering when am I going to get my financial aid award letter? How long does that take?

It really depends on the school. So that's why you have to really be pro-active. And if it's been a week or two or three, and you haven't received a financial aid award letter, or you haven't heard back from the school, follow up with them. Definitely.

Here's another question. Can you use a tax tool to update after entering 2014 data? So that's a great question. I think early - this speaks to - I was mentioning that for the 2016-2017 FAFSA, if you haven't filled out the taxes, we want 2015's information. But if you haven't done it, we want you to go in and guestimate 2014 - and use 2014's information.

Once you actually do your taxes, your 2015 tax information, that will probably - that will definitely go into the IRS data retrieval tool. However, remember I said it takes two to three weeks.

So it may make sense that if you're going to guestimate by using 2014's information, once you actually do your 2015 taxes, because, again, it's two to three weeks, you don't want to wait. So let's say, hypothetically speaking, you're not going to file your taxes until April or May or March, you may just want to manually go in, once you've done your 2015, and make the correction.

So, again, you don't have to use the tool, because if you're pressed for time, as far as you've already been delayed because you haven't filled your taxes out for 2015, although you've already used 2015's information, you want to put it in the queue. Once you do 2015's information, get it in that FAFSA as soon as possible. Okay?

The tool will have the 2015, but, again, it's two to three weeks. And sometimes it can take longer. So if you realize that it's not extracting into the tool, then manually put the numbers in for 2015. I hope that helps.

Okay. Let's see. I mentioned to you all - we talked about having more than 10 schools. I'm hoping you guys can hear me, since most of you have stayed on most of the time. How much for Pell? I missed the amount.

So for the previous year, Pell used to be $5,775, but we've increased it $40. So now it's $5,815. That's the maximum amount. Now, let me say this. You are not always going to receive the maximum Pell award. It will depend on your EFC.

So and it will also depend on your enrollment status. You may be going part-time. You may be going full-time. So it all depends on the Pell amount and your EFC. So, again, the full Pell amount is $5,815. If you go to , we actually have a publication.

If you go to resources, if you scroll down, we have something called At a Glance. And that lists all of our federal programs, and it lists the minimum and maximum award amounts.

So, again, we've got all those resources for you. You can probably even just go to and put in Pell award amount. So, again, use that website. It's really great for you.

Let's see. I think we've got time for a couple of other questions. And I'm looking. I'm looking. Let's see. Can students interested in going to graduate school get financial aid in the form of grants?

So that is another question that we get all the time. Unfortunately, graduate students only qualify for federal loans. We talked about subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Graduate students actually only receive unsubsidized loans now.

So a graduate student does not qualify for grants. However, you can always check with the school. For graduate school, sometimes there are fellowships. Sometimes there's institutional aid that the school will give. So keep that in mind. But there really are only loans when we talk about that for graduate students.

Let's see. I also neglected to mention when we talked about undocumented students, there may be a student that actually is a citizen, but their parents are undocumented. Now, a lot of people are dissuaded, because they feel like, well, if my parent is undocumented, I can't fill out the FAFSA. Absolutely untrue.

If the student is a citizen and the parent is undocumented, the parent can use zeros in place of a Social Security Number. And then the student can complete the FAFSA. At the end of the FAFSA, you would print off the signature page.

You can sign the FAFSA, we talked about, with an FSA ID username and password. But the parent can't create one, because they're not a citizen. But that's okay. The parent would use zeroes and then there's an option to print a signature page. They would send that signature page in, and then follow the steps after and still be able to process their FAFSA with the school. Okay?

So it's important to remember that if a parent is undocumented, but the student is a citizen, the student does still qualify for financial aid. We get a lot of other questions about a CSS profile and FAFSA. Two different things.

The FAFSA information that we ask for doesn't have anything to do with the CSS profile. That is something that the school will ask of the student. I think it does ask a lot more specific questions, but the FAFSA is going to ask you some pretty basic information. But the CSS profile and the FAFSA are two totally different applications.

What happens to the EFC - this is a good question? What happens to the EFC is the latest income tax filings are significantly less than the last year, due to the loss of income? So, again, that's another good question that we get.

The schools are going to take into account if there is a significant change in the income, because that's going to basically, as I said, that's what's looked at to determine the EFC for the student.

So the schools will ultimately look at those circumstances and be able to assess what happens. Obviously, if there's a loss in job, they're going to take that into consideration, if, in the previous year, they had been working.

Again, it's a case-by-case circumstance. We like to tell a lot of people that the FAFSA is really the start point of the financial aid process. We ask you for all the information. The schools are ultimately the individuals who decide how much aid to award.

So it's really imperative that you put all of the correct information on the FAFSA, because if something is incorrect, they're going to look at that and award and assign funding based on what you have. So that's why you want to make sure you're putting down as much accurate information as possible, because that's how the schools decide.

And if there's an error, or you feel like you're not receiving enough aid, again, you can always go to the school and say, "Hey, you know, is there any other assistance available?" The schools have the final say.

I will say this, a lot of people call our 1-800 number and they say, "Well, FAFSA, where's my money?" The schools ultimately do provide the money. So you want to reach out to them if that does occur. So, again, I want you guys all to remember that.

Let's see. If a parent and student completes a FAFSA together, how does it link together? So on the FAFSA form, there's a sign and submit. The last page, there's parent information, where it asks you to agree to the terms. And then you put your FSA ID, username, and password.

And at the bottom, there is the student's information, where you agree. And you put the student's FSA ID, username and password. And it says Complete My FAFSA. And after you do that, you'll get a confirmation page to let you know that you have completed your FAFSA.

So you get a confirmation page, then you get a SAR, and then you get a financial aid award letter. Those are all of the pieces that you get. So it's 6 o'clock. I do see that you all are asking about the recording. Yes, the recording will be made available to you.

So look for the link for the recording. I think that means that you guys really enjoyed the information that I gave you today. At this time, I'm going to conclude our webinar. I really do help that you all appreciated all of the wonderful information that I gave you today.

We want our students to go to college. We want them to take advantage of all the money that is out there, and that's why we do what we do, so that you can get the information that you need.

So thank you, all, for joining and have a good evening. Bye-bye.

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