Applying for Financial Aid (FAFSA and CSS)

Webinar Transcription

2021-10-25 Applying for Financial Aid (FAFSA & CSS)

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisor’s webinar on applying for financial aid. To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we’ll start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q and a on the sidebar. You can download the slides and you can start submitting your questions in the Q and a tab.

Uh, now let’s meet our panelists. Hi everyone. My name is Michael Miller, but you can call me Mikey. I attended the university of Pennsylvania and I graduated three years ago in 2018. I studied English and while I was at Penn, I was a writing tutor and I’ve been working in college applications, advising and consulting.

Ever since having worked with several companies, including college, vine and prompt, and now I’m here at CollegeAdvisor and I will be talking to you today about applying for financial aid. So let’s get started. [00:01:00] Okay. So before we get started, we have a little poll. We want to know what grade you are in, right?

While we’re collecting those answers, uh, for that pole. Uh, Michael, can you, or Mikey, can you just go ahead and give us a, uh, briefly discussed what’s your own kind of personal walkthrough of financial aid was like when you were applying to college? Absolutely. So financial aid was super important to me when I applied to college, just because my family could not.

Before to pay four years of tuition in full. So I applied using the FAFSA, the, the CSS profile, which are all things that we’ll talk about a little later, excuse me, as my headphones, keep falling out as I’m talking. But I was able to get, um, demonstrated need. Um, we’ll talk about what that means a little bit later on in the [00:02:00] webinar, but at Penn day guarantee 100% of demonstrated need.

So I was able to get that through, um, through financial aid, through work study, which we’ll also talk about saying a lot of things you’re gonna learn about later, as well as some scholarship programs. Perfect. Uh, so we’ve gotten a lot of responses in a, so we have 2%, um, coming in from ninth grade, 5% from 10th grade, uh, 26% from the 11th grade, uh, and a whopping 63%, uh, from 12th grade and kind of 4% falling into the other category.

So, uh, it looks like majority are 11th and 12th graders. So, uh, welcome again to the. Awesome. Thank you very much. So when is a good time to start thinking about financial aid? So now if you’re a senior get on that, um, the FAFSA, which we’ll talk about later, that opened October 1st. So the earlier you can start thinking about [00:03:00] financial aid the better.

So it’s great that you. If you’re not a senior, the summer going into, into your senior year would be a great time. You can start to think about a plan for how you be, how you would be able to bring over all my words to afford college and to find the financial aid in order to do that. However, it’s never too early to think about how you will finance college, other than the.

Buying a house college is one of the biggest financial commitments that any person that any family is going to make. So it’s very, very important that you understand how you’re able to pay for it and how that will affect your education. And yeah, there wasn’t an end to that sentence. That was it. Cool. So I know I’ve started to throw around some of these words, but what are the differences between financial aid, scholarships, and grants?

So everything that we’re talking about really falls under the [00:04:00] umbrella of financial aid money that’s given to you in order to, um, make your college experience and education a little more affordable. So. Generally though, when we refer to financial aid, we are talking about need-based aid or loans. So that is aid that often needs to be paid back.

So that comes in a few different ways. So that comes in the form of government aid. So the government has some money set aside, um, to give to students who are pursuing higher education and you can apply for that. And then. A certain amount and depending on your family situation and the amount of money you need, um, they allot some money for you after you apply.

And then there’s also institutional aid. So institutional aid, again, that’s in the name. So that comes from the specific schools that you’ll be attending. And again, that’ll be based on your, um, your financial package and what [00:05:00] your family is able to afford. Uh, schools, financial aid office comes together.

They discuss your finances and they ultimately propose a package to you of what they would be able to provide you. And some schools, like I said, I attended Penn. They promised to meet 100% of demonstrated need. So if you show that you need money and they’ve accepted you, they are going to. Coming to you being able to go there financially.

Um, and I know we said, um, often needs to pay paid back this financial aid. That’ll often be in the form of loans so much, like it’s like taking out a loan for a bank. Ultimately that is something that you need to consider. I’m still paying off my student loans. I have a lot of friends who are paying off their student loans.

That’s essentially borrowing money from the government or from a. From a institution that gives out loans and allows you to pay that back. So then we have scholarships as well [00:06:00] and scholarship, you can scholarships, you can get an excuse me as I, my headphones keep falling out. But, um, those are. That’s money that you often do not have to, you do not have to pay that back.

That’s a scholarship. So there are merit aid through colleges. So that w that will often be awarded without a separate application. So a lot of schools will give merit AGU if. Meet or exceed their academic, um, expectations. So I always like to say, when I work with my, um, with my advisees, I always like to say, maybe we throw a few safety schools on there.

Some public safety schools, those are often awesome for giving great amounts of, um, merit aid. And that is often given to entice a student who may not otherwise attend school based on their academic and extracurricular profile. The. Basically to introduce them, to persuade them, to attend that [00:07:00] school, um, because they’re getting it for a much cheaper price than they would a different school.

Um, they’re often also specific scholarships, specific college scholarships. I can’t read what I wrote. So those sometimes need separate applications. So that is something that you can go and you can do specific research on based on the schools that you’re applying to. Some of them. And it really depends on the school.

So I can’t really give you a rhyme or reason for how these work, but some of them you apply to after you’ve applied and you can go in through the school’s applicant portal and you can apply there. Some of them you can apply to after you’re admitted, some of them you can apply to with your application.

So that really just depends on the research that you did. And, um, what you’re able to find there. And then you can also get scholarships through other nonprofit and private organizations. So I got a lot of scholarships my senior year, just through my high school’s guidance department’s scholarship list.

So something that I always suggest to [00:08:00] my advisees as well is go to your, go to your guidance counselor. See what scholarships are offered in. Area, um, often it’s those local scholarships that will give you the best chance at getting money. I always say, um, as well, if you have a specific, if you’re from, if you’re from a specific state or if you’re international or no matter what you’re studying, you can Google search like someone in shin.

I wouldn’t say someone but scholarships for students interested in pre-med in Virginia. Sake of example, and you can probably find a few good things there and the more specific the scholarship and the more, um, things you have that I guess if that makes any sense, the more specific your qualifications are, or your interests are in order to, um, that align with that scholarship, the easier it will be for you to apply and to potentially get that the super, super big ones [00:09:00] like the Coca Cola scholarship.

Like hundreds of thousands of students supply to those. And those require a, an enormous application and essay process. So it’s so, so much harder to get those. And if you’re really, really looking to maximize your time, I say, go for those local scholarships. And like I said, that’s free money. That’s not stuff you have to pay.

Then we have grants. So grants don’t need to be repaid unless you don’t fulfill the specific requirements of them. So there are certain grants that require you to, um, work study. As I wrote their work study programs. What that means is you can get a job on campus and the school will say, Hey, if you work for this amount of time or you work this amount of time to make this amount of money, we will be able to give you this money contributed towards your education.

And often that will have a cap. So if you work more hours or make more money than your school, a lot of for you in the work study [00:10:00] program. In some situations you won’t be able to get all that money. Um, another requirement that I’ve heard of is some organizations give out grants and then may require you to teach for a certain program for a couple of years.

If you decide not to do that, but you still take the money for your education. That’s something that you would have to pay. Good to the next slide. So what is the FAFSA? I knew that’s a word that I’ve thrown around already. And how does that contribute to financial aid? So it is the free application for federal student aid, operative word.

Three, which is amazing. So in order to get that, you can go to FAFSA, DACA, it’s super easy and it’ll determine your federal student aid eligibility. That’s what the government will take into consideration when deciding how much money they might be able to offer you. And that determines your institutional aid, eligibility, same thing at the schools you apply to financial aid officers, they’ll decide based on what you’ve, um, inserted their.

And [00:11:00] it will provide the expected family contribution. So based on all the information that you put in about your family’s finances, the FAFSA will say, Hey, this is what we think you will probably have to pay, um, to attend college right out of your pocket.

So what is the CSS profile and how does that contribute to financial. So the CSS profile cannot talk tonight clearly is through college board. And you probably very, very familiar with college board, your SATs, your APS, they’re everywhere in high school and college admissions. So you can get to that. But yeah.

CSS profile.collegeboard.org, or you could just Google CSS profile is I totally did. And then copied and pasted the link. So that’ll collect a little bit more information than the FAFSA. So while the facts that focuses on the main, um, [00:12:00] your family’s income. Um, those general things, the CSS profile we’ll want to know if you have a small business or home equity values.

Um, if you have any medical bills that are so outstanding that you have to pay, if your family covers private school tuition, if that’s relevant. And I know these are words that might not make sense to you right now, um, they definitely did not make sense to me like home equity values, no idea what that meant in high school, but, um, definitely just grab your parent or guardian and they can walk you through.

So something that the CSS does that the facet doesn’t do is it really considered special circumstances. So, um, it gives you the opportunity to provide more information about your financial situation that you might not be able to get across anywhere else. And you can communicate that to, um, to the financial aid team at whatever school you ended up attending.

Um, I’m sure. You’re very cognizant of the fact that the sat, um, you have to pay to take that your [00:13:00] APS college board is the same way with the CSS profile. So it is $25 for the first school and then $16 for each additional school. And depending on the schools that you’re sending this profile to, it may also include school specific questions.

And that’s also something on that note, um, for whatever school you ended up matriculating to, they might also have separate forms that you need to fill out. I know at Penn, I had to fill out a Penn specific financial aid form through their website. So just keep that in mind. All right. So what are the deadlines for the FAFSA and the CSS profile?

So the FAFSA, technically it’s June 30th, 2022, but hopefully at that point, you’ve already got your financial aid situation, figured out, um, individual schools have different deadlines, so it should be filled out much, much sooner. Go to all the schools that you’re applying to. Right now, if you’re a senior hop onto their websites, look at their financial aid pages and see when they need the FAFSA.

[00:14:00] Um, you can say. FAFSA to many different schools right now, if you are considering which I hope you are considering many, many different schools. And, um, if you just don’t matriculate there, um, it won’t matter. They would still use that to help determine though your financial aid eligibility, um, to give you a financial aid offer and then CSS profile.

Again, deadlines depend on the school, go to. That you’re considering websites and figure that out from there. So both the FAFSA and the CSS profile, they opened on October 1st. So you should fill them out ASAP, go in, um, financial aid. A lot of times we’ll comment, a first come first serve basis because there’s only a finite amount of money.

So the sooner you get your forms in the better you are, um, yeah. All right. And I see, I actually see some people are asking some questions to me in a private chat, feel free to put that into the Q and a [00:15:00] that way. Um, we can moderate all of these questions. All right. All right. So now is the time for the second poll of our session tonight?

Uh, where are you in the college application process? All right. So that poll has opened. Um, in the meantime, Mikey, do you want to just kind of, what did you major in, and then what was that? What was that program like at your ed at UPN? So I majored in English and I had a minor in theater arts, and I actually went into Penn thinking that I was going to do broadcast journalism.

They have an amazing, amazing communications program. And I was like, I’m a writer, I’m a performance. I want to do that, that marries both of the, um, both of those disciplines. And then I got there and I was like, wow, like I’m a very, very practical person. And this program though. It’s so, so super excellent.

I have so many friends doing amazing things with communication degrees. It just wasn’t for me, cause it was a super theoretical [00:16:00] program. So I was like, if I could do it over again, I would be an English major. And I was like, wait, I’m halfway through sophomore year. I can do it over again. So I was already a writing tutor and.

Yeah, then I became an English major. So a lot of reading, a lot of writing. And I like to say that my English education taught me almost like a lot about huddle logic. Um, cause I was already a writer and helped me fine tune those skills. But. Can really think through an argument. I think. Perfect. Thanks for letting us know.

All right. So, um, with the poll, uh, 13% that haven’t started, uh, 25% that are currently researching schools, uh, 27% of you said that you’re working on your essay. 2320 4%. Now getting your application materials together, and 12% of you say you’re almost it kind of all across the board there. Uh, [00:17:00] like you’re still kind of in the middle, middle section, uh, of the entire process.

So just continue on. Cool. Amazing. So what materials are needed to fill out the FAFSA and the CSS profile before we even deal with any of these materials? I say, grab your parent or guardian, because they’re going to probably know a lot more of what this means than what you mean or, well, what you mean, what, you know, what this means, then you know what this means.

They know what you mean. Clearly cannot talk tonight. But I, when I tell you that I grabbed my dad and he handheld me through doing that. Four years in a row. He did. So there’s no shame in that. Please have your parents and guardians do this with you. So in terms of the FAFSA, you’re going to need your social security number.

And if you’re not a us citizen, but you have an alien registration number, you’ll need that. This does not apply to international students. That financial, um, process is very, very [00:18:00] different. Um, your federal income tax returns, your W2. And other records of money earned bank statements, records of investments, records of untaxed income.

And the reason that I put asterisks next to those little bullet points is because it will most likely be your parents or guardians information, um, barring any special or specific circumstances. Um, so the CSS. Um, a lot of the same things, federal income tax returns, W2’s records of money, earned records of untaxed income, thanks statements, records of investment, mortgage, information, information, other assets.

I’m just going to breeze through that because, um, grab your parents and we’ll be able to help you with that. Cool. So what is the difference between need blind and need aware? So meet blind means that your financial circumstances are not considered in the admissions process. So they will look an admissions officer teams, admissions officers.

They will look at your application and your money. It’s nothing to do with it. [00:19:00] You are going to be admitted or. Not admitted, but hopefully admitted to a school solely on your merit, not on your ability to pay for college. Um, only 105 colleges in the United States are completely need-blind and you can just do a quick Google search for that list.

And however, even though financial circumstances are not considered, you do still need to have a way to pay for college. If admitted need-blind does not necessarily mean that they will meet 100%. Um, demonstrated financial need. That just means that they won’t consider your financial need when you apply.

And then we have need aware schools, so need aware schools. Um, financial circumstances are considered in the admissions process. Um, so a lot of those schools that are not, I mean, there are many, many more than 105 schools in the United States and most institutions are need aware for international students.

Um, don’t quote me on this, but I think there are about [00:20:00] five or six of them that are need-blind for international students.

Cool. And how can you tell how much financial aid a school might give you before applying? So you can use the faxes expected family contribution number. So I told you a few slides ago that the FAFSA, um, at the end, it’ll spit out this number and it’ll say here’s how much we think that your family is going to be able to contribute toward your education and based on how much a school costs you can kind of do the math.

So how can students be aware of scholarships and financial aid when crafting a school list? So consider schools that might automatically all offer merit aid. Like I said earlier, I always always suggest to my advisees that they consider putting safety schools that might give them a lot of money. On the, um, on their list.

I have worked with some [00:21:00] students who actually negotiated between certain schools trying to get financial aid packages because those schools have merit aid packages because those schools really, really wanted them. So. That’s something you can look into. Can you can research specific scholarships that schools offer.

And like I said, that will really depend on a school, whether that’s something that you’re automatically considered for when you apply or whether you need to find specific scholarships at the school that you can apply for separately, or if you apply by a certain deadline, sometimes you’ll be, um, considered for scholarship.

So you want to ask yourself, do you meet or exceed the requirements needed for hefty scholarships? I’m sure you’ve heard of them. There are a few schools that offer full ride scholarships, um, depending on your qualifications and you just have to find them. Um, and then research schools that are also known for offering generous financial aid packages, or like I [00:22:00] said earlier, a school that is, um, Promises to meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need.

All right. So where can, who can students contact, contact, excuse me, for more info, if they can’t find an answer about financial aid. So you can always ask a financial advisor, a financial advisor of your own, they can help you go off the FAFSA or work with your family to, um, work with a school, to figure out how you can get the most out of financial aid or they can help you.

Um, Work with your finances and, um, see and hope you report your income and your assets, um, and just help you make sure that you put yourself in the best situation for financial aid, but you could also come to CollegeAdvisor.com. We do a financial aid consultant on staff who can answer, um, your financial aid questions.

All right. So what last advice would you give to students [00:23:00] looking to pay, looking for financial aid? I cannot read these own headlines to help pay for college. So like I said earlier in the webinar, college is an enormous financial investment that ultimately of course has great return. You’re investing in your future.

Better thing is there to invest into which may seem scary, but with planning and diligence, you will be able to work with your school to create a plan that works for you and for your family. And I know I, um, speak to, I can speak to my own experiences. Um, I’m three and a half years outside of, out of school and come January.

I’m going to finish paying off my student loans. So three and a half years is, um, not too bad in the world of paying off your student loans and. Washing not washing away your financial aid, but essentially washing away that get

awesome. So, um, that is the end of the presentation part of the webinar. I hope you [00:24:00] found this information helpful and remember that you can download the slides link in the handouts tab, moving on to the live Q and a I’ll read through the questions you submitted in the Q and a. Paste them into the public chat.

So you can see, um, and then read them aloud before our panelists can, can give you an answer, uh, as a heads up, if your Q and a tab, isn’t letting you submit questions, uh, just double-check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. Um, perfect.

Um, so at this time, uh, you know, if you want to work on one-on-one with an advisor from our team of over 225 advisors and admissions officers, uh, you can sign up for a free consultation with us by going to college [00:25:00] advisor.com and clicking the green check button in the bottom right of the screen. Um, from there, just write in consultation and alive team member.

We’ll get back to you to help coordinate your free consultation with us. Uh, and now we’ll go ahead and hit off the QT.

Um, so let’s see.

So the first question, um, that I’ll be throwing into the chat is, is there a maximum amount for FASFA that you can get?

Is there a maximum amount that you can get through the FAFSA? I do not believe so. The. It’s really, like I said, I’m a combination of several factors, so you’re not really getting money through the FAFSA. You’re getting money through the government. You’re getting money through the specific school that you ended up attending.

So ultimately the maximum amount of money that you can get is [00:26:00] full tuition, but, um, that is either something that one you’d have to demonstrate or to, um, get scholarships. Um, Awesome. Um, the next question was, should we feel the CSS profile before or after applying to colleges fill out the CSS profile?

Now, like I said, it’s open October 1st. Um, a lot, some schools will even have deadlines before you have to apply. And most schools, financial aid deadlines. Before you get a decision. So, um, absolutely. Fill it out now, send it to the schools you’re potentially interested in attending. All right. The next question.

Can students still receive money from FASFA if scholarships or grants completely covered their tuition? Yeah. Students who receive money from passive scholarships or grants completely cover they’re too Ishan. I mean, you should be able to, but I do. I mean, it’s not really from the FAFSA. [00:27:00] Let me, I guess, let me rephrase that.

You’re not receiving money from the FAFSA. You are filling out the FAFSA in order to receive the money from the government and from the specific school that you attend. So you probably aren’t getting much financial. From that avenue. If you are getting scholarships or grants to completely cover your tuition.

All right. If I’m an American citizen living outside of the us and my parents’ taxes are in a foreign language. Do I certify translations for these documents. Okay. Wow. I do not. Unfortunately, I don’t have the expertise to answer that question. That is something that I would resort or research or connect with a financial advisor or call up the schools that you’re interested into, um, to get that information.

Um, yeah. And just to kind of further note on that, [00:28:00] um, yeah, uh, as Mikey was saying, do feel free to always contact the financial aid office at the particular universities that you’re applying to. Um, you know, I would literally just kind of, you know, send that question off to all of the universities you’re applying to and make sure that you have firm answers because each college could probably go about a different.

In what they require documentation-wise um,

do you have to apply for finding played every year?

Okay. Now my ex back on you do have to apply for financial aid every year because your financial circumstances, your family’s financial circumstances might very well change. Um, every year a school, your school will reassess that. And so you must complete, um, I mean, Japan, I mean, I had to complete the FAFSA every year, the CSS profile every year, like I said, I had to complete the [00:29:00] Penn specific financial aid form every year, but, um, Yes.

So you do in short? Yes. All right. The in question, um, there is a class ID for both the student and parent, which one do you fast for out under the student? You are the one applying for the financial aid. Easy enough. Um,

Does everyone like to fill out this? Does everyone need to fill out the CSS that will really depend on what the school that you, the schools that you’re applying to and ultimately the school that you ended up attending will require. So again, like I said, just hop onto the financial aid websites for all the schools that you’re considering and see if you do probably, probably yes, but.

Um, like on the same topic of CSS, uh, once I submit my CSS [00:30:00] profile and I add more colleges to the list in order to send the information to them. So you can, for an additional fee that I believe was $16 that we said earlier in the presentation. Okay.

How should I apply the FASFA? If I don’t have a social security number? How do you apply for the FAFSA? If you don’t have a social security number, um, if you have an alien registration number, um, you can use that. Um, otherwise the FAFSA is not, um, an avenue that, um, you are able to consider if you’re not, um, because that is the American government.

Um, so then you can contact the school specifically about how you may receive financial aid. Yes, or do research into how that can work on internationally.

All right. The next question [00:31:00] is, do I need to profess the applications for every college I want to go to and do I went to basketball before? Into college. Yes. So for right now I would fill out the FAFSA application for every college you want to go to, but it’s one application and then you say send it to these schools.

So very much like, um, taking the sat and sending your scores over there and. Do need to fill out the FAFSA before, um, before getting into college often with an acceptance, um, letter, a school will provide you if not with it very shortly thereafter, your financial aid package. That way you can make a decision, ultimately.

Um, so you are going to need. All right. Next question. If parents are divorced, can you use one parent’s income on the FASFA? All right. If parents are divorced. So I believe that it really depends on the specific situation in [00:32:00] how parents are supporting you financially. So that is something that I would take on a case by case basis.

Um, yes.

Um, now this question was a bit larger, so I kind of chopped it in half, but I did think that it was a pretty solid question. So what if my, what? Sorry, what if my parents cannot afford to contribute the EFC FASFA, uh, does that EFC and whether my parents can or cannot afford the EFC. This that stopped me from asking for a larger federal student loan to go to my preferred school.

That is an awesome, awesome question. And so the FAFSA EFC is really just a number based on what an algorithm thinks you can pay based on what you’ve inputted. So in all reality, your family problems. We’ll have to pay [00:33:00] something a little different than that. So, um, that does not have to stop you from asking for larger federal student loan.

You can, like I said, um, there’s always room to negotiate with a school’s financial aid office. Um, you can always take out private loans. Um, there are other opportunities, um, for you to make up for that. Yeah. See if, um, ultimately, although the FAFSA is giving you the EFC, ultimately it’s, whatever school you go to that says here’s the expected family contribution in the end, because they’re the ones giving you the bill.

All right. Uh, did they consider cost of living where you, where you currently live compared to other parts of the country when figuring out expected family contribution? We consider cost of living. It’s mostly based on, um, Rather than cost of living. Um, I can find the question now, but it’s very easy one.

Um, should we fill out CSS and FASFA or do [00:34:00] we have to pick one? You should fill out both, ideally, but again, like I said, go into the specific, um, financial aid websites for your schools. Um, most, most will require the FAFSA. And if you don’t fill out the FAFSA, you can’t get any federal aid. Um, and most schools will require the CSS profile as well.

And like I said, the CSS profile is a lot more detailed than the FAFSA. Okay. Um,

what, what are the parameters that determine the quantity of financial aid that international students.

What are the parameters that determine that? So that will really, that’s a great, great question. And I wish, I really wish I had a little bit more insight into the international financial aid process. Um, from [00:35:00] my knowledge that is very, very school specific. Some schools will offer, um, financial aid to international students.

Some students have absolutely no opportunities for that. Some schools, um, Allow you, some schools have scholarships available specifically for international students. I mean, I can even tell you, I have a friend who, um, was a Jap who was a Japanese citizen, who I believe it was through the company. You Uniqlo.

I think I’m saying that right. Got a full scholar so that I know is a scholarship and that’s not really financial aid, um, through, um, through a specific school, but it really, really is school specific. All right. How many hours a week can you get in work study and does it pay minimum wage? Absolutely. So I think, um, the way that I phrased that a little earlier in the webinar was a little misleading.

I know I was mentioning hours, but it really does come down to the amount of money that a [00:36:00] school is willing to give you in work study grants. And it’s saying you can work the amount of hours up until you’ve reached that. And then most work study jobs. Unfortunately, can’t pay you beyond that. Um, you can really work as many hours as you want.

Um, I worked several, several, um, work study jobs. When I was at Penn. I started off, it was a Stax assistant in the library, working for Pennsylvania minimum wage. 7 25. Mike will be 7 25. I don’t know. Um, and then by the time I was a sophomore, I was a, um, I was a writing tutor and that paid much more. That was 15 an hour.

So it really depends on the job that you have. And, um, you can work as many hours as you want a week, as long as the job is okay with it. And as long as you can also succeed in school, because if you’re not succeeding in school, there’s no reason for you to, um, to be working a work study job. That’s what you’re doing for, right.

Um, [00:37:00] so, uh, regarding the CSS profile, uh, I input early decision for some schools. When I meant to put regular decision, I was wondering how I would be able to fix this if I already submitted it yet. Absolutely contact the school, um, that the schools that you did that for and just make sure that they, um, have that distinction.

Um, so next question. Um, do colleges use parents’ retirement accounts when deciding how much aid to give? So some of the questions that these, um, schools that these forms will ask is how much you and your parents have in your savings accounts. So ultimately,

yeah.

Sorry, I’m just kind of looking through tons of [00:38:00] questions here. So just trying to find ones that are like, kind of eligible for everyone. Um, because we have invested in a 5 29 plan we’ll fast, needy available. I apologize. I do not know what that is. Um, is that if I’m not mistaken, 5 29, slightly like asleep funded college investment plan, that you can start like investing from the time, you know, parents have, uh, you know, from the time you were like two years old, they can set up a college fund.

Okay. I have a friend who has Y new, who has one of those. And it’s one of those where if you take. And use it for anything except college. They like tax half of it. Yes. Okay. I am familiar with that fast. The age should definitely should be available. Like again, not FAFSA aid, but like aid should definitely be available to you.

Perfect. Thank you. Um,[00:39:00]

Is there a checklist for what is needed to complete the FASFA? Is there a checklist? What is needed? We put a little mini checklist in the webinar presentation slides, which you can download from the handouts, but you can also very quickly Google, um, documents needed to complete the FAFSA. And it’s basically the same things that I’ve outlined for you.

Um, If I, if a person is getting a ROTC scholarship, do they need to complete a FAFSA? I would still complete the FAFSA. I was still completed. I went in doubt, complete the FAFSA. I remember I had a friend who was senior year of high school. It was like, Mike. I’m really upset. I’m only getting $50 of financial aid.

And I was like, Hey, $50. The financial aid is better than $0 of financial aid. So when in doubt, complete FAFSA, [00:40:00] that’s a great rule. Um, do you have to pay back institutional aid fully? If yes. At what rate of interest. Okay. That is very, very specific to the types of loans that, um, you’d be taking out and schools will sometimes offer you packages.

Part of your packages will say, Hey, we need you to take out this much in loans, and that’ll really depend on your loan provider. Um, and yeah, your loan provider, um, and all of that, uh, I am a junior. Can I fill out the fast NCSS CSS profile now? What is the earliest that I can complete these profiles? I would not fill out the FAFSA and the CSS profile.

Now I would wait and talk Tobar first of next year.

Um,

do they check [00:41:00] household income? They do check household income. That is probably the biggest determining factor. Okay.

Can your parents make a change to their FASFA? If they have made a mistake and realized their mistake after the FASFA submitted? That is, um, a case where I would, um, where I would contact the school. And I would let them know about that.

If I am being considered as a student athlete, uh, for a possible scholarship, uh, When do I fill out the FASFA? Is it still the same deadline that applies again? Um, fill it out as early as possible in terms of deadlines, that might [00:42:00] be something that you need to check with your specific. If you’re an athlete, you can check with your, um, perspective coach about that.

Um, otherwise you can call it the financial aid office again, rule of thumb, fill it out, fill it out as early as possible. Starting October 1st.

And

I was offered a trustee scholarship to the college that I planned to attend. I am an athlete, but what was offered was not enough to cover my yearly tuition. Is there somewhere to apply for financial aid for an athlete, like a scholarship for athletes? I’m so sorry. The, um, absolutely, like I said, um, great tool that you have at your disposal of the internet.

Literally you can Google scholarships for athletes, Google, the state or the country of your international, that you live in. See what [00:43:00] they can provide. Like I said, local scholarships or scholarships for very, very specific parameters are going to be your best friends in terms of scholarships. If your parents own a business, will it decrease your financial aid brand?

It will not necessarily decrease your financial aid grant amount again, that would all depend. If your parents own a business, it would depends on how much family income you make from that business. Um, equity having that business, I’m assuming a hundred percent, but, um, just things that I would report on to the, um, to the CSS profile.

And, um, again, like we said, like Kayla reiterated as well. You can always call up the financial aid offices at a specific school and chat with. If I have a job, do I have to include information about my own income? Often the, um, the CSS profile. If I remember correctly does ask you about your, um, your own income as a student, your own account.[00:44:00]

If we have to fill out the FASFA by October 1st, we should have all the acts. We should have all the schools sorted out by then. Right. Uh, can I apply for FASFA and update the college lists? Oh, no, I think you misunderstood. Okay. The FAFSA opens October 1st, but that’s a still open. It’s going to close in June of 2022, but if you’re working on it in June of 2022 and you’re a senior, oh no, we’re in deep trouble.

Um, you can apply for FAFSA. Um, you can apply for the FAFSA and still update your college list. You can send, you can hop in later, send to more.

For financial aid, do colleges focus on adjusted gross income or income as a whole? Which one is more beneficial to get the most aid? Absolutely. So, um, the reason that the CSS profile specifically asks all of these different questions is that it focuses on your adjusted [00:45:00] gross income. It wants to know what you have equity in.

It wants to know, um, what’s in your bank accounts, unfortunately, and, um, the different and different, um, where your money is or what you owe in wants to know. Um, it wants to know what your. Yeah. And wants to know all these different things about your income. Okay. Um,

on the FASFA form and ask about assets. It lists stocks, but does

let’s include the 401k.

401k retirement funds too. I believe that is, does that include, asks about assets. It lists stocks, but it doesn’t include 401k required [00:46:00] retirement funds too. If it doesn’t specifically ask about it, I would say don’t worry about throwing it in there.

Sorry, I’m kind of ground. A lot of these are from international student questions. So just trying to, um, go through all of these, um, uh, let’s see.

Is it, are there any generic income bands to get the financial aid? If yes. What is the percent of tuition fee for each band?

Hm. Am I better now? Okay, super sorry. My headphones. I was telling Kayla, my [00:47:00] all my technology is super old. So sometimes I had fun wires. When there’s certain ways you can’t hear me. Um, no, no. It really is very, very specific to your circumstances and your situation. That’s why they want to know so much.

Uh, let’s see. A lot of these questions are kind of starting to mirror each other. So, um,

I mean, asking this because there might be some people out there thinking the same thought, is it true that even if you don’t think you will qualify for financial aid, that you still need to fill out the FASFA? Oh yes. Out the FAFSA and not have not stress that enough. Like I said, a few minutes ago, my.

Friend who got $50 in financial aid. You know what, like that’s a nice dinner. Like, no, not that it’s [00:48:00] still, you really never know. And often schools, sometimes they won’t even consider you for scholarships and stuff. If they don’t know about your financial circumstances. And sometimes these scholarships are merit scholarships based on your academic standing, not your finances.

So Philadelphia, Philadelphia. Creaking of scholarships. Are there any websites for orientation about, about scholarships in general? Typically? I don’t know any, I mean, I know scholarships.com exists where you can just find the scholarships. Um, I don’t know any specific resources, um, to just like teach you about scholarships.

I mean, if you have any questions, you can always reach out to us at CollegeAdvisor and we’re happy to answer you as well. Um, if, if parents have towns with family members due to taking care of, uh, elderly grandparents, uh, does factor that into consideration when determining the amount [00:49:00] of paid determined.

Oh, I’m so sorry. I missed the beginning of the question. So when it comes to like taking, uh, if they have shared bank accounts with other members, for things like taking care of elderly, Grandparents, uh, as in that, is that taken into consideration? If it’s, um, if it’s an account that the CSS profile will ask you to, um, to, um, report you’re announcing, then.

Um, and just to inform those of you who have a lot of questions about scholarships, um, you have, uh, have webinars on scholarships as well here at CollegeAdvisor. Um, so we’ll just be looking out for those. Um, let’s see here.

All right. There’s a lot of questions that [00:50:00] are, um, a lot of the questions all kind of started to resemble each other. So it’s hard to kind of now find questions that kind of stand out at this time. Um,

uh, spending plan, put the student at a disadvantage to get a fast, but to get any.

Again, I’m sorry. 5 29 savings plan 5 29. Put the student disadvantaged to get a FAFSA loan. I mean, again, it will ask you about money. That’s saved up assets, so that may be taken to consideration whether, um, it’s a disadvantage. I don’t want to make that judgment call, but again, that will be taken into consideration.

Um, when you’re presented with that.

Um,[00:51:00]

um,

uh, this is, uh, this is a bit of a niche question, but it could apply to a number of people here in tonight’s session. If a person is enlisting in the military, right after high school, or for any other reason to in college, when should they fill out the fastest. Before they graduate high school or later?

No. So later you want to fill it out the talent. You want to start filling it out the calendar year prior to your attending college.

Uh, is there someone in the fast foot organization, uh, or a government, um, we can ask for further information about the FASFA. [00:52:00] I don’t, I don’t know that specifically. I would go to fafsa.gov. I would see I’m sure they have a health, a help page as most websites and companies do. I know it’s not a company, but, um, is most websites.

Um, what, and, um, you can probably get any more specific questions that you have that I can’t answer. Answer there.

I think we have time for about two or three more. Um, it’s just really hard finding these questions. Um, I do not want to borrow any funds from parents. Can I apt out of giving info of parents income and CSS or a FASFA website? All right. So in regard to that, I know it will ask, um, if you are being supportive, By your parents.

I don’t believe there is a way that you can get out of that. If you are supported by your [00:53:00] parents or guardians, if you are not, then I believe there, but if you are supported by them, I don’t think there is a way to get out of that.

There’s the fastball only exists in the U S the FAFSA is for American citizens or, um, or students with registered with alien registration number.

Uh, does your parents’ citizenship affect the financial income amount? Um, parents, citizenship effecting financial income. I don’t know if that is, um, in terms of income. I don’t know if that’s citizenship related, but in terms of financial aid, um, your [00:54:00] parents citizenship, um, should not affect that. It’s your citizenship, that they are mostly, um, focused on.

Perfect. Um, if.

If grandparents started the 5 29 plan and it’s a surprise and under their control and it’s under their control. Does it still need to be listed if it’s under, um, the grandparents control, but it is for your education and cannot be used for anything else, but your education.

Okay. I’m thinking honestly, got to all of the questions. Um, I’m not seeing anymore. So, um, at this [00:55:00] time, um, Yes at this time. I think we can, uh, just thank everyone for coming out tonight. Um, thank you to our panelists tonight, Mikey. Um, it was some really great information that you provided regarding all of the financial aid, uh, process, um, and all of the requirements for those forms.

Um, and at this time, Uh, that is the end of our webinar for this evening. Um, this is just, um, that is, so we had a really great time telling you about applying for financial aid and just here’s the rest of our October series that you’re seeing on the screen now. Uh, so just keep these dates in mind and plug them into your calendar if you want to attend future webinars.

Thanks again for coming out tonight.