Just before tax
season comes the opportunity for college-bound students to apply for monetary assistance
via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The program collects
and sends financial data to colleges that use it to award need-based financial aid to students.
Filing a FAFSA
was once daunting, according to Pam Rambo, a former college financial aid and
admissions professional who now works as a researcher for families and students
looking to maximize their financial aid opportunities.
"It's much
easier now than it has ever been," she said. "Maybe 30 minutes."
Rambo, who is
based in James City County, said the most frequent mistake parents make is
waiting until after they have completed their tax returns to submit the form.
It's one of those rare occasions when "it's actually better to be on time
than accurate," she said.
"I don't
mean that you should be inaccurate," Rambo stressed. "You should file
early even if you have to estimate (your tax information). Then file your taxes
as early as you can, and then make your corrections. That should be easy to
do."
Some families
don't know they can actually file the FAFSA retroactively, Rambo said. The
final deadline each year is June 30 – for the previous academic year. Colleges
may have other deadlines, Rambo said, which can range from mid-February to
early March. Applying sooner than later is also important because schools only
have a finite amount of financial aid available.
"If you
apply too late, the money all could be given out," Rambo said.
FAFSA tips
Ed Irish,
director of financial aid at the College of William and Mary, offered important notes for
filing correctly:
• Both the
student and the parent should sign up through FAFSA's online starting place,
fafsa.ed.gov, for a user identification number and password that will allow
them to file and sign the form electronically.
• If you are a
parent filling out the paperwork on behalf of a student, be sure to use the
student's Social Security number. Using the parent's number "will create
all sorts of problems, because there will be a mismatch in the system,"
Irish said. "It can be corrected, it will just slow down the
process."
• Know the
individual financial aid deadlines for each school to which a student wishes to
apply.
• Also know that
some colleges – among them William and Mary and the University of Virginia –
require an additional financial aid form, the "Profile" form
administered by the College Board. According to the College Board website, Feb.
14 is the deadline to submit a Profile form for the 2013-14 school year.
Irish urged
students to file a FAFSA even if they suspect they might not be eligible for
financial aid.
"You're
going to need it as a minimum for student loans," he said. "If
there's any chance you're not going to have the resources, complete the
FAFSA."
Outside help
Susan Mickens of
West Point, who has one son attending community college and another who will
graduate high school in June, described the FAFSA as a user-friendly process
that parents should be able to complete on their own. Still, she said, she
worked with Rambo because "there's a learning curve, and when you're
talking about college, making a mistake is money lost."
"It was very
scary going into the process. It's something that we don't do often,"
Mickens said. "Sometimes we have a preconceived notion of the process
being very complicated, when in fact it truly isn't."
Darla Krupski, a
Yorktown mother whose son is a sophomore at William and Mary, said "FAFSA
has kind of a bad name, but it's not that they don't want to help." It's
just that there are so many people applying for financial assistance.
Krupski said she
found it helpful to work with a consultant,
especially since she and her son have what qualifies as special circumstances.
Krupski, who is separated, has been under-employed since she was laid off from
her full time job three years ago, and her son has a health condition requiring
expensive medications. From Rambo, Krupski learned about the "special
circumstances" addendum to the FAFSA.
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