Student Aid



PSC-ED-FSA-TISD

Moderator: Christal Simms

November 8, 2017

12:00 pm CT

Coordinator: Welcome and thank you for standing by.

At this time, all participants will be in a listen-only mode for the duration of today’s conference.

This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.

May I introduce your speaker for today, James Copeland.

Please go ahead.

Dr. James Copeland: Thank you.

Hello and welcome. My name is Dr. James Copeland, and I’m a member of the Awareness and Outreach Team.

We’re here today to talk about what happens next after submitting the FAFSA. I also would like you all to know that we have members of the team that are standing by to answer your questions. So please, at any time, you can type in your question and one of the members will be happy to answer it for you.

Also, this presentation is being recorded, as well as it is made available right now if you want to download. If you look at your upper left-hand corner where it says, “File,” “Name” and “Size,” you can download this presentation right now. Also, the presentation will be available in approximately two weeks on financialaidtoolkit. and . Remember, they’ll be available on those two resources in approximately two weeks.

So as we move ahead now, we’re going to talk about this particular subject matter. As we move forward, some questions to be addressed this afternoon. Where does my FAFSA information go once I submit it? How can I check to see whether my FAFSA has been processed? Who will I hear from and when? When do I - if I’m told I’ve been - what do I do if I’ve been told that I’ve been selected for verification? What if I made a mistake on my FAFSA? How do I correct it? Can I update information on my FAFSA if my situation has changed since I filed it? How do I decide what aid to accept and how do I accept it? And last but not least, how do I get my money?

So, you filled out the FAFSA and submitted it. What happens next? Where does my FAFSA information go once I’ve submitted it? Well, first of all, you know, FAFSA information is shared with colleges and/or career schools that you have inputted on your application. So your information is being sent to all these entities or schools of interest. The Financial Aid Office at your school uses your information to figure out Federal Student Aid you may receive at that particular school.

It’s important to understand this part especially because some people are under the impression that once you receive aid, an amount from a certain school, then that same amount is applicable to all the other schools. Please keep in mind any aid that is afforded to you is from the school that you submitted to specifically. Each school will put together their own package. And that’s called the Award package. If the school (has) funds to use for financial aid, it might use your FAFSA information to determine eligibility for that aid as well. In other words, schools have other grants and programs available and monies that they can make available to a particular student, depending upon the information that’s entered on the FAFSA.

The school might also have other forms it wants you to fill out to get school aid. So make sure you check with the Financial Aid Office. Oftentimes, just because you fill out the application and you have your FAFSA completed, the school may require additional information. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to your e-mail. That’s why we ask for your e-mail when you fill out for your FSA ID as well as filling out the FAFSA application.

Your information also goes to your state of higher education agency, as well as to agencies of the states where your chosen schools are located. Many states have financial aid funds that they give out based on the FAFSA information.

Many people ask, why fill out the FAFSA when they feel like they’re not going to get anything? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. There’re a lot of other agencies and entities that have funding available where the first question they ask is whether or not you filled out the FAFSA. So the FAFSA information is very important moving forward in terms of you receiving aid.

How can I check to see whether my FAFSA has been processed? You can check the status of your FAFSA application immediately after submitting it online. You can check the status of a paper FAFSA after it’s been - roughly about seven to ten days from the date that you mailed it. However, we highly encourage using the electronic form because it’s much quicker and much more efficient. But you do have the option to mail it should you decide to do so.

Here’s how. Option 1, you can go to , log into your account. And Option 2, you can contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center, which we call (FSAIC), in order to get you information and they will be able to retrieve information and tell you exactly where you are in the process. If your FAFSA is still being processed, we recommend that you wait a few days before checking the status again. Sometimes there can be slight delays in getting information processed. But rest assured, your information is being processed.

Right now, I’m going to go to one of our poll questions. And I just want to see how our audience is up-to-date as far as the information that we provide.

So the first question we have for our viewers out there or I should say our listeners - I’m going to (drag over) to the mainframe so everyone can see it.

Our first question is, students who receive grants will be required to sign a promissory note. I’m going to give you a few minutes to answer that question, then I’m going to provide the answer.

Okay. I’m going to give about another minute, then I’m going to go ahead and provide the answer.

Okay. So we’re going to go ahead and end. As it stands right now, we have 68.5% have answered false and 31.4% have answered true. The correct answer, ladies and gentlemen, is false. So those of you that checked off false, you are absolutely correct. Your correct for this reason, grants are monies that you don’t have to pay back. And keep in mind that the promissory note is used primarily for those who accept federal loans from the Federal Government.

So for those of you out there that answered false, congratulations. You’re on top of your game as far as knowing how the FAFSA, its process and as well as how monies are assigned and what’s paid back and what’s not.

So as we move on, we’re going to go to our next slide.

How can I check to see whether my FAFSA has been processed? We’ve already answered that question, so we’re going to move along to the next. Remember, you have two options. You can either go to and log into our account or you can contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243.

Who will I hear from and when? Well, first of all, we, the Office of Federal Student Aid at the US Department of Education, will (send) you a Student Aid Report, which we refer to as a SAR, but a Student Aid Report, that’s what the acronym SAR stands for, which is a summary of a FAFSA data you submitted.

Basically, you’ll get the SAR within three days to three weeks after you submit your FAFSA. Be sure to look it over to make sure you didn’t make a mistake on your FAFSA. Find out more information about the Student Aid Report and its purpose and how types of - and how the type of FAFSA you filed determines when you’ll get the SAR and what you should do with it.

Keep in mind, the SARs are report for you to make sure that the information that you entered is correct, but is also an opportunity to see if you omitted anything. Meaning if there was some information that you may have perhaps forgot to enter on the application itself. So keep in - as the SAR is a verification that you did submit your application, it’s also an opportunity to - for you to use it to verify the information that you entered upon the application itself.

To continue who will I hear from and when, the SAR won’t tell you how much financial aid you’ll get. Instead, if you applied for admission to a college or career school and have been accepted, and you listed that school on your FAFSA, the school will calculate your aid and will send you an electronic or paper aid offer, sometimes called an award letter, telling you how much aid you’re eligible for at the school.

The timing of the aid varies from school to school and could be as early as sprint time, awarding the fall, or as late as the immediate - or as late as immediately before you start school. It depends on when you apply and how the school prefers to schedule awarding of aid. But the bottom line is that’s what students are waiting for. They’re waiting for that bottom line, to get the letter from the school to tell them exactly how much aid they will receive if they attend their institution.

What do I do if I’m told I’ve been selected for verification? First and foremost, this is not an alert. Don’t sweat it. This is just one of the processes that - implemented as a way of ensuring that the information that was entered on the FAFSA application is correct. Sometimes people are selected at random. But as protocol predicts, schools that are receiving federal funding are required to do at least 30% their verification. Some schools do 100%.

You might see a note on your Student Aid Report saying you’ve been selected for verification or your school might contact you to inform you that you’ve been selected. Verification is the process your school uses to confirm that the information that you entered on your FAFSA application is accurate. Your school has the authority to contact you for documentation that supports the information you reported. So just because you have it on your FAFSA application, sometimes they have to verify that the information is accurate, because changes do take place from year to year. And you’ll be required to update your FAFSA application every year while you’re in school in order for you to receive federal funding.

To continue what do I do if I’m told I’ve been selected for verification, if you’re selected for verification, don’t assume that you’re being accused of doing anything wrong. As I said earlier, some people are selected at random and some schools verify all students’ FAFSA. All you need to do is provide the documentation your school asks for. And be sure to do so by the school’s deadline. Deadlines are extremely important when you’re dealing with the FAFSA because everything is timed. So, please, be sure, once you get an e-mail saying that you’ve been selected or even if it’s not in reference to verification, it could be something else, make sure you answer in a timely manner, or you won’t be able to get financial aid.

If you used the Internal Revenue Service Data Retrieval Tool when filing - when filling out your FAFSA and you have not changed any of the information retrieved, you will not have to verify that information. The reason being is that the IRS is a, how can I say, is a more reliable system. So everything is pipelined into your application.

If not, your school may require you to submit a tax transcript as part of your verification process. You can find your tax transcript through the IRS Get Transfer - Get Transcript service at transcript.

So it’s a lot better to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, but you’re not mandated to do so. But it’s a good idea to use it. It really cuts down on the time of filling out the FAFSA application and it’s to your benefit.

Question. What if I made a mistake on my FAFSA? How do I correct it?

Answer. Once your application has been processed, you can correct your FAFSA online or on paper. Making corrections online is the easiest and fastest option. That’s why we highly encourage people to fill out their FAFSA applications electronically. But you do have the option to fill out the paper form if you so choose.

Another question. Can I update information on my FAFSA if my situation has changed since I filed it?

Answer. There is some information that must be updated if change - if it changes, while most information cannot be updated. Find out the difference and how to update FAFSA information by going to . Also, you can receive information and talk with a Federal Student Aid Information Center employee by either e-mail, chat or at our 1-800 number that I provided earlier at our Federal Student Aid Information Center.

How do I decide what aid to accept? And how do I accept it? You’ll need to understand the aid that’s being offered. For instance, if it’s free money such as a grant or is it a loan that you’ll have to pay back? Both of these are very important.

As you recall, the first question that you received at the top of the hour or closer thereof was the students who received grants will be required to sign a promissory note. And everyone - the majority answered false. Because keep in mind, the promissory note is mainly used for those who will accept loans, and those loans have to be paid back. The promissory note also says that you understand that and that you are willing to abide by the rules as they are presented to you with regards to loans and paying them back.

Also, you need to decide what aid you really need and then respond to the school’s award letter within the deadline set by the school.

You can get more details about accepting aid if you go to .

Keep in mind, when you’re presented a package, you, the student, you have the choice as to whether or not you want to receive an aid or not. You can actually turn it down if - so choose. Even if you’re afforded a loan, let’s say you have a loan amount of $10,000, but you find that you only need $4000, you can turn down the other $6000 and just take the aid that you need. Because remember, it’s a loan; you have to pay it back. So you don’t want to go overboard. You want to make sure you borrow only what you need to pay for school.

It’s also important to know that if you accept the loan, the money must unequivocally be paid back. Sometimes as you’re going to school, it’s easy to forget that you’ve been receiving loans because you’re not in the process of paying it back yet. But these loans are payable once you graduate from schools six months thereafter. Or if you cease to going to school six months after your last class, then you will immediately receive a letter from the US Department of Education saying that your loan is now going into repayment.

So make sure you stay aware that money that was borrowed in a loan must be paid back.

How do I get my money? The Financial Aid staff at your college or career school will explain exactly how and when your aid will be paid out. They will also tell you whether you need to fill out any more paperwork or meet other requirements. Remember as we stated earlier that sometimes schools require additional information going forward and processing your application or trying to come to a decision as to what type of award that they’re going to offer you.

For instance, if you’re receiving a Federal Student loan for the first time, you should expect to be required to sign a promissory note and go through entrance counseling. Be sure to keep in touch with your school’s Financial Aid Office so that you understand the whole process of receiving your aid.

Have you filed - or rather, have you filled out your free application for Federal Student Aid? And are you wondering what happens next? Please, check out this short video that’s been provided to you there. If you go to that URL, there’s a very short film that tells you exactly how the process works. It’s pretty much straight to the point. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing the video. It explains everything to you to learn what to expect after filling out the FAFSA. For more information as stated earlier, please, go to fafsa.

The FAFSA process. This is how the process works. Each year, the Federal Government provides more than $150 billion in financial aid, grants, work studies and loan for college or career school. To apply for this aid, you must complete the free application for Federal Student Aid. Also, state governments and many other colleges and career schools use your FAFSA information to award you their aid. So it’s very important to fill that FAFSA out even if you feel as though you might not get any aid. But keep in mind, the FAFSA is used for more than just the school that you’re applying to. It’s also for other agencies and organizations that have funding available to help you pay for college. So, please, be sure you fill out the FAFSA.

Remember, some schools won’t consider you for merit scholarships until you submit a FAFSA. So complete one even if you think you won’t qualify for federal aid. And please, by all means, relax. The FAFSA is designed to be simple to fill it out. Tips throughout the application help you understand the question. And most people finish filling out the FAFSA in less than a half hour. Actually, those times have even improved even more. We have some that are able to fill it out in as little as 17 to 20 minutes.

So over the process of the FAFSA evolving, it has gotten simpler and easier for the end user. We try not to complicate things when putting the FAFSA out. So the users will have peace of mind and ease of user-friendly information so that they can fill the FAFSA out and get the process moving.

Before we move further along in the process, I want to put out another question and see if our viewers are up-to-date so far.

So our next question, if a student is selected for verification, there must be something wrong. Is that true or false?

I’ll give you a few minutes to answer that question and we’ll go ahead and move on.

Look like our answers are coming in. So one more minute here, I’m going to stop the poll and we’re going to move along.

You know it’s important every year to fill out the FAFSA. I know sometimes students can forget while they’re in school. But you must remember that every year, it’s not that you have to go in and fill out the entire FAFSA. But basically you’re going in to update the information so that if there’re any changes -- last names, residence, phone numbers, address -- this information can be updated in the FAFSA application. So it’s not a thing of going in and filling out the entire FAFSA. You’re not doing that. Basically once you fill it out in Year 1 with all of the information, the years following, you’re simply updating the information.

So what I’m going to do now, I’m going to end the poll. I’m going to answer the question first in the poll. I’m going to broadcast.

Basically, we have 94.4% answered false. And we have 5.56% answered true. Those of you that answered false, you’re absolutely correct. And good job.

Thank you again for your participation.

So we’ll move onto our next slide.

In preparation for the FAFSA, the FAFSA asks questions about you, your finances. So I have the information below handy. It’s good to have it handy because it makes the process even easier. Preparation is very important.

So you don’t have all your information ready yet. That’s okay. You can start the FAFSA, save it, come back to finish it later.

To find out whether you need to report information about your parents, visit dependency. The process is, however, if you are 23 years of age or younger, you must have your parents’ information in order to file the FAFSA. Otherwise, you’re only be eligible for loans. But if you have the parents’ information, this makes you eligible for all of the programs -- loans and grant programs.

If you look down at the bottom there of the slide you’ll see where it asks you to gather certain information -- Social Security Number, alien registration card, if it applies to you, tax information. But keep in mind, the tax information, you already have a pipeline in that should you decide to use it. And that’s the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Recent untaxed income and any cash savings and checking account balances, as well as any investments or another home other than which you live which you might be renting out.

Now most students don’t have all these things. They don’t have investments. But there are some students who actually do. So just make sure you gather up all the necessary information to make the process flow easier.

The FAFSA is available. So it’s important to fill it out as soon as possible to meet the school and state financial aid deadlines. As you know now, the FAFSA is available October 1st every year. In prior years, it used to be available starting January 1st. But we’ve added on additional time as a result of conversations we’ve been having with the end users and families and parents that they would like to have, you know, access to the FAFSA earlier.

If you file your taxes before filling out your FAFSA, you may be able to retrieve and transfer tax information into the form automatically using the Internal Revenue Data Retrieval Tool as I’ve been talking about earlier. We here at Federal Student Aid do believe that this is a very useful resource. And should you have the option to use it, as everyone does, we highly encourage you to do so.

If your taxes - if you’re filing your taxes after filling out the FAFSA, select “Will File” and use estimates to submit your FAFSA early. Then after filing taxes, log into and then use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to update your information. As many of you may know, now you can use your tax information for two years. So this really makes the process much easier where you don’t have to estimate and go out and find anything. Your information is already in the system. And it’s the same information.

Let’s say, for instance, this year, you fill out the FAFSA - I’m just giving you example. You fill out the FAFSA. Let’s say your parents are making $30,000. But now in the next year, your parents are making $100,000. It doesn’t matter. It still applies. You will still use the tax information from the preceding year indicating they make $30,000. So this is definitely a value and a great benefit to our students and parents.

Meeting financial aid deadlines. It is very, very, very important to stay abreast of all deadlines that apply to state, to the schools that you’re filling out your applications for, as well as any other information that your schools may need to make a decision about what they’re going to award you.

Each state and school has its own FAFSA deadline. I’ll say that again. Each state and school has its own deadline. Check a college’s or career school’s deadline on its Web site or by calling the Financial Aid Office. Most state deadlines are at deadlines.htm. And you can find out that information.

So you have it here on the PowerPoint presentation. You’ll be able to download this. So you’ll have all this information readily available. And please, if you haven’t done so already, go ahead and download the presentation. If you look to your upper left-hand corner where it says, “File,” “Name” and “Size,” “What Happens Next?”

And, please, if you have questions, keep sending those questions in. My colleagues are standing by to answer your questions and we’ll take those gladly.

Some admission options. Electronic form, we highly suggest using this feature. Mailing application, however, is still available. Even though we’ve made advances as far as the electronic feature, you still have the option to file your FAFSA in paper form. Just remember, the electronic submission by your college or career school, ask if they can submit the FAFSA for you because that’s always another useful option that you have available to you.

After you submit your FAFSA, your information will be sent to the colleges you listed on the form. And remember, you can indicate or enter up to ten colleges on your application. I’m speaking of your FAFSA application. You can enter up to ten. So take advantage. Variety is the spice of life and options are definitely received positively. So make sure you put all ten in there. And once you process, you can go back into the system put ten more. All you’re doing is increasing your options.

This is very important. Your financial aid is paid out by your school. Again, your financial aid is paid out by your school. Remember, you’re waiting for the award letter to come from the colleges and universities that you selected. Should you decide to attend those is going to be dependent upon what they make available to you in the form of an award letter.

If you go to Penn State University, Penn State is letting you know what Penn State is willing to pay you, the student, or make available to you to pay for your college attendance if you attend their institution. You can’t take the award letter that you received from Penn State and apply it to University of California. California will make up its own mind and determine what award package they’re going to make available to you should you decide to attend their institution of higher education.

So, just keep in mind, those things are separate. But more importantly, we here at Federal Student Aid do not, I repeat, we do not pay out your financial aid. Basically when you fill out the application, the Federal - the FAFSA, we basically tell you what your eligibility is. We’re saying you’re eligible. However, the schools will determine exactly what they’re willing to make available to you. It’s not an eligibility thing; it’s what they’re going to make available to you. So if you decide to accept, that’s what that particular school is going to make available.

Again, you’re waiting for that award letter. And the award letter can be very, very diversified. It can be made up of grants, work study and loans to include any scholarships that you may have received outside of these programs that are offered by the Federal Government. But keep in mind, these are the programs that the Federal Government has available. Grants, monies you don’t have to pay back. Work study, monies that you don’t have to pay back. However, it’s an opportunity to work either on the campus or off campus with other institutions or organizations who partner with that particular school or university. And then of course you have the loans. These are the programs that the Federal Government has available to make funding available to you.

Also keep in mind, you don’t have to accept the whole amount offered. You have a choice in that matter. But please, if you’re given grants, accept that money. That’s free money. That’s money you don’t have to pay back. And then of course work study, if work study is offered, you might as well get yourself ready to enter the work force. But what better way to do that than to accept work study, earn extra money to help offset the cost of going to college. You may need additional books, computers, who knows? But it all comes handy when you need it. So that’s an opportunity. And then, of course, loans, that’s a decision factor there.

Some more scenarios. Question. I am a student and my parents are divorced. Do both of my parents need to complete a FAFSA?

Answer. If your parents are divorced or separated and don’t live together, the parent with whom you live with more during the past 12 months should be the only one to complete the FAFSA. Okay?

Next question. I am a student and I split my time living equally between my divorced parents. The FAFSA requires information from the supporting parent. Which parent should fill out the FAFSA?

Answer. If you live with the same - if you live the same amount of time with each divorced or separated parent, the parent who provides more financial support during the past 12 months should complete the FAFSA. So in other words, you have a 50-50 situation. But whichever parent is providing 51% of the support more, that’s the parent whose information goes on the FAFSA.

More scenario questions.

Question. I am the grandmother and legal guardian of the student. Can I fill out the FAFSA in place of the parent?

Answer. No. The student is considered independent due to the courts placing him or her in a legal guardianship. The student is the only one who needs to fill out the FAFSA. So there’s no need for the grandmother to fill out the FAFSA or enter in information.

Question. I am a student with US citizenship, but my parents are undocumented. Am I eligible for Federal Student Aid? If so, the FAFSA requires parent information. So what shall I do?

Answer. Yes. You are eligible for Federal Student Aid as a US citizen. Your parents can fill out the FAFSA using zeros in place with the Social Security Number and provide the request to financial information regardless of whether they have filed taxes with the IRS. If your parent does not complete the FAFSA, then you are only eligible for unsubsidized loan.

So you see here that the child or the student was born here in the United States. So that makes them eligible for all the program. But it’s still going to require information from the undocumented parents that must provide any financial information requested so that they can further along with the application process.

So that’s a good thing to know because it doesn’t take the student out of the process or out of the pipeline in terms of receiving financial aid.

Let’s recap. The first thing that happens in a process, the student completes the FAFSA application. The FAFSA, in the second part, the FAFSA is processed by Federal Student Aid. Student receives a SAR. The college, at the same time, receives the information if listed on the FAFSA. So only the colleges that are listed on the FAFSA application receive the same information or identical information as to the SAR.

The college reviews the information and assembles award package for the student. All the colleges. The colleges may also require additional information before they actually turn over an award letter. So make sure you stay on top of your e-mails and answer them accordingly if needed.

Finally, the student and the parent reviews the award package, compares other award letters, and then the student and their family determines which college to attend, which is probably the most difficult part because sometimes students have difficulty deciding what schools they want to attend as opposed to some students who are dead set on one university.

So keep your options open. But in a nutshell, that’s how the process ebbs and flows. It’s as simple as that. Student completes the FAFSA, the FAFSA has been processed by Federal Student Aid, the student then receives a SAR, at the same time, the institutions also receive something identical, we call the ISIR, which is the Institution Student Information Report. Once they receive that, the college reviews it, assembles an award package for the student. The student then receives the award letter and compares to other award letters that they may have received from other colleges and university. Then of course, the student, along with their parent, make determination on which award package they want to accept.

If you have questions, please contact Federal Student Aid Information Center. It operates a toll free hotline. And that hotline number is 1-800-433-3243. There’s general information about Federal Student Aid and Title IV program. There’s information about the FAFSA application itself. And there’s information about making corrections on the FAFSA, as well as student loan history.

We also have some additional resources down here. We have , which you’ve heard time and time again. We also have where you go to set up your FAFSA application. And we also have the Financial Aid Toolkit, which is really hot right now because it has an abundance of information on different processes as well as programs about Federal Student Aid that you can familiarize yourself, as well as to make available to others who are looking to pursue college.

Before we go any further, I have one last question I like to poll and just see where everyone is now. I’m pretty sure it’s pretty easy for you now because you’ve all been doing very well.

The question. Students who receive loans have the option of taking the lesser amount that was approved. I’m going to give you a few minutes to answer that question. But this one should be obvious because I do believe we covered that information earlier.

So I’ll read the question again. Students who receive loans have the option of taking the lesser amount that was approved. True or false.

The lesser amount. Do they have that option? Or is it that once the loan has been made available by the school or by the Federal Government, the student has to take that money?

Make a decision carefully.

You know, loans are great things. You know, we tend to get loans for a lot of our needs and things that we need or want. But what can be better than taking a loan or considering a loan to help pay for your education. That’s very important.

I’m just going to leave maybe another minute to get some answers and then I’m going to reveal what the answer is.

Again, students who receive loans have the option of taking the lesser amount that was approved. True or false.

Okay. I’m going to provide the answer. Make that available to everyone to see.

My, my, my, I’m very surprised. We have 97.3% say true. And you’re absolutely, unequivocally right. And we have one at 2.56% that says false. Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen, you have the option to take a lesser amount if you don’t need the entire amount. As we say, there’s a such thing as financial literacy. You need to know what it is you need to pay for school, but then be cognizant of the matter that once you leave school, all loans have to be paid back. They have to be paid back. Because if you don’t pay them back, you go into default, and that could affect your credit rating in you’re getting a home, getting a car, anything.

So you want to make sure you understand that you don’t have to take the whole amount. You can take only what you need. And I know members of my team, we emphasize that when we go out to the masses that only borrow what you need, okay? You’re not mandated to take an entire loan amount. Grant, you take that entire amount. Work study, consider it. Make yourself available.

I want to thank everybody for that. And we’re going to move along.

So we’re going to move to our next slide.

Okay. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for attending. We have some other helpful resources that I would like you to be aware of. And that is please register for our e-mails. You see the URL right there. When you register for our e-mails, anything and everything that’s going on with Federal Student Aid or any updates or anything like that, you’ll be privy to. But you also have those e-mails to stay in contact with us and be updated on information as it comes about.

Also, please check out our new Spotlight article. Our Spotlight article highlights some of our partners out in the education industry that are doing very innovative things to bring the information and message to the masses about Federal Student Aid and, of course, paying for college.

We also like you to be aware of the Webinars that are coming up. We have our next Webinar, which is scheduled for Tuesday, November 16th, the topic “Get Your Questions Answered About Financial Aid and the FAFSA Form.” So please, make sure you go out and register. You see the URL right there. You can go directly there and register for that Webinar. And the time for that Webinar to start will be from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. And it’s a very informative Webinar. It allows you to ask any and all questions relative to financial aid and more importantly about the FAFSA application itself.

We also have another Webinar coming up on Thursday, November 30th 2017. The topic of discussion will be “How to Avoid Student Loan Scams.” There are a lot of people out there that mean no good except to get your information and violate your ability to borrow money in the future and make progress in your life. And that is scheduled to start at 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The URL for that particular Webinar is there on your screen. Please, go to that URL. Register for the class. We highly encourage you to spread the word to others who might be interested in these two topics. If nothing else, just register and come in and just listen to the information. You’ll find it very informative and well-put together.

And, please, keep in mind, if you have any other questions about the FAFSA, please call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at - 800-433-3243 about financial aid and the FAFSA form.

We just want to thank you all again for coming out and taking part or at least tuning in to take part in this information. We really appreciate your attendance because by you attending, it affords us the opportunity to share with you any and all information relative to the subject matter today. We all know that when you fill out the FAFSA, that’s a very exciting time right now for your future. And we just want to ensure that you have all the information that you need and moving forward with your pursuit of education.

Also, we had a question I think would be of interest to everybody. If a student is Pell eligible, is it possible that different schools can give varying amounts of Pell grants? In other words, will Pell awards vary by institution? Absolutely. Absolutely. As provided by one of our members, the question that was posed was a very good question. And you need to keep in mind that the amount of the Pell you receive will be - vary based on the time of enrollment, full or part-time, and the maximum amount that is afforded to a student is $5920. But again, the amounts will vary, depending upon the institution and how many other people are in that same status. So, yes, that could definitely vary.

Thank you for that question, (Alison). Very good question.

Another question we think would be of interest to everyone comes from (Kalisha). What if your financial situation has changed since 2016? Taxes were filed. And you know because of this, you won’t get enough money.

Well, the information was provided by one of our members, (Claire). And she gave a very good answer. You should speak with the Financial Aid Office at the school you plan to attend if there will be a significant change in your or your parents’ income for the present year or if your family has other circumstances that cannot be reported on the FAFSA. And this is very, very, very important because life still happens. But one of the main things is you can come to the Financial Aid Office and give them your situation. But, remember, it will have to be supported by documentation. But they’re there to help you, not to cause any hindrance or stop you in the process.

I want to thank you for that question, (Kalisha). That’s a very good question.

We have another question coming from (Michelle). And this question is if we have financial obligations that impact our ability to pay for college, whether it’d be private school tuition for younger sibling, do we wait for the award letter from the schools and then supply the information to the individual schools at that time?

My colleague here, (Mayisha), she said, “(Michelle), just to be clear, the FAFSA is filled out before you receive the award letter. You must complete the FAFSA in order to figure out what aid that you’re eligible for.” For more information, she also afforded a URL which is sa/fafsa and then filling out. It is very important, you must understand, no award letter can be issued until the institution has received the FAFSA. That’s how they make their determination as to what they’re going to - so you have to fill the FAFSA out first and then from there, you’ll receive the necessary information so that you can make a decision about how to move forward in your college education or your college pursuit.

We have another question coming from (Lisa). Can you turn down some of the aid offer and accept other types of aid in the package?

Coming from my colleague, (Claire), absolutely, yes, you have the right to turn down the loan or to request a lower loan amount in the aid offer. The school will tell you how to do this. Here is more information. And my colleague gave the URL down there which is at FAFSA (unintelligible), and then Accept Aid. But if you go to our and simply put in Accepting Aid or turning down aid, this information will still populate. But as we were discussing in the presentation that you are not mandated to take a loan and you’re not mandated to take the full amount of the loan. It is totally up to the student. You can take whatever amount you want. But we ask you to take only or accept only what you need so you have control over that. And that’s very important.

But that’s a great question, (Lisa). And I, you know, as with my colleagues here, we can’t emphasize enough to be very careful about how you borrow money and then make sure you only borrow what you need.

We have another question coming from (Jen). How can I add a school to the FAFSA after I’ve submitted it? Well, (Jen), that is very easy. Coming from my colleague, (Joan), (Joan) just simply puts it in terms of changes to the Federal Student Aid code. Basically, if you want to add or delete a school or if you want your FAFSA information available to an additional school after filing FAFSA, you may add that school’s federal school code.

Remember I was saying earlier in the presentation that you can add up to ten schools. So once your FAFSA application has been processed, okay, basically you can go back into the system, take out the ten schools that you’ve already put in. But keep in mind, those schools remain in the system. They’re still in the database because the information is going forward to those ten. And you can put in additional schools as well. So you’re not limited as to the amount of schools that you can put in. I’ve even had students put in as much as 50 schools because they want options. And different schools - sometimes you’ll be surprised that - just in the state that you’re living in. Well they could be at another state that offers a tremendous award letter or package to help you pay for college. So that’s very, very important.

Thank you for that question, (Jen).

I want to reiterate once again, we have some very, very informative Webinars coming up on November 16th. Again, the topic is “Get Your Questions Answered About Federal - Financial Aid and the FAFSA Form.” The time for that is 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. And you have the URL. Keep in mind, our times are always Eastern Standard Time. Eastern Standard Time. Okay?

We also have another Webinar coming up Thursday, November 30th. The topic of discussion will be, “How to Avoid Student Loan Scam.” This is very, very important. There’re a lot of organizations out there that don’t mean you any benefit or any positive intervention at all. And your personal information is very, very valuable. So be careful. This is a very important Webinar that you really, you and others, your friends, gather around and listen to this information. It’s very informative. And it’ll help you moving forward in making your decisions as to who to divulge your information to and whether or not it’s legit. We do have methods on investigating whether or not something is legit or not.

So, again, from here at Federal Student Aid, once again, I am Dr. James Copeland. And I’m a member of the Awareness and Outreach Team. And we just want to thank you for tuning in for this Webinar today.

For all your dreams and futures, we pray you the best. And please, feel free to call us at any time at 1-800-433-3243.

Have a great day.

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