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It only looks confusing. The FAFSAOct 31 '00 Write an essay on this topic.As a manager in the Financial Aid Office at the Art Institute, the question I most often hear is, 'What is this thing?' and 'I don't know how to fill this out!' and finally, 'Do I have to fill this out, I did one last year!?' Mostly from the students who have filled one out before, go figure. A FAFSA is a Free Application for Federal Student Aid and students are required to fill one out at the beginning of every financial aid year(July) by any student requesting/needing financial aid. The FAFSA, once filled out is either given to the financial aid office or mailed directly to the Department of Education for processing. The results of the aid a student is eligible for varies, dependent upon student/family income, family size and number in college. Types of financial aid made available by the department of education are: Federal Pell grant(PELL), Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant(SEOG), Federal Perkins Loan(PERK), Subsidized Stafford Loan(STAF), Unsubsidized Stafford Loan(UNSB) and the Federal Parent PLUS loan(PLUS). Most students and a lot of parents look at this form and confusion immediately sets in. Why? Because any thing designed by any part of the Federal Government is automatic cause for confusion. The form takes a bit of concentration and time, because in order to understand how to fill one out, you HAVE to read every line and sub-line. My suggestion is to read first before you start filling out the form. Once you have thouroughly read the FAFSA over, then and only then should you gather together the other information needed to fill it out. Items you will need are copies of your and future student's previous or current year Federal income tax forms. Reason being, because there is a section requesting adjusted gross income, taxes paid and work income. The portion that is most confusing to people is the taxes paid line. This line is asking for the tax amount based on your AGI(adjusted gross income) as determined by the tax table. Most people think this line asks for their Federal tax with-holdings. The next item you will need is any proof of untaxed income such as: 401K's, IRA contributions, Social Security monies, Special housing allowances and etc. These items are usually listed on your W-2, except in cases where you are contributing out of pocket to and IRA. But rest assured, for most of us, the items or money earned is listed somewhere on your taxes, so this may be the only item you need. Be forewarned, you may be required by your local financial aid offices to submit certain information as proof. Because you and your student are opting for the financial aid route, you may be chosen for the federal or he school's verification process. Via this process, proof of the information supplied on the FAFSA will be requested and must be supplied in order for the aid to pay. There is a $15,000 penalty and threat of jail for falsifying information, but this is for blatant falsification. The only thing the schools and the Department of Education really want is the most accurate information available. If chosen for verification and there is error between the original information and the verification documents, the school will help you make the corrections necessary and you will not be penalized. All in all, the key to filling out this form is read first, gather information, patience and read again as you are filling out this form. Once you read it through once or twice, the difficulty factor decreases. It only looks confusing, but then what would Department of Education(DOE) worker do with their time if they didn't make it appear confusing? Sorry, Financial aid joke, :-) Also, if anyone has any questions on Financial aid I'll be glad to try to help or answer any question you may have. Thanks for reading.  |
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