Thank you to the New York State Financial Aid Administrator's Association and HESC for offering their annual Financial Aid professional development yesterday, which I was able to attend. I can't even begin to put all of the information that I learned into one blog post, but I do want to share some highlights that I think students, parents, and guardians will find useful.
- The FAFSA is really starting to push the option of linking your taxes (if filed electronically) with the FAFSA to reduce the need to be selected for verification and to lower the chance of making an error with the data entry. The Data Retrieval Tool (or DRT) is not available right now, but should be in a few weeks (ideal since that is when most people will start filing taxes). The site should remind/encourage families to use this too, but it is highly recommended. My understanding is you WILL be able to submit the FAFSA now indicating that you 'will file' taxes for 2011 then when you log back in in a month to update after you have filed your taxes you can opt in to the DRT feature.
- Student aid is at constant risk of being cut by your federal legislators. Go to 'Save Student Aid' on Facebook to learn more and find out how to speak to your representatives to try and reduce further cuts.
- TAP is a grant given to NY state residents if they attend a college in NY state. You will be prompted to fill out a TAP application after you submit your FAFSA, but the link is pretty small (it is next to the orange arrow that says 'optional feature' on the page that comes up after you submit). If you miss this link (or close the window after you submit the FAFSA without clicking it) you will need to wait 5 days before you can complete the TAP application. If this happens, don't worry, it is not very time sensitive and you will probably have to edit your TAP application in May anyway once you decide where you are going. (The TAP award is only calculated for one school - the first New York State school that you list on your FAFSA. If you end up not getting in or not going to that school, you can manually update the school via that TAP site). Your adjusted gross income for your NY state return must be under $80,000 per year to qualify for TAP. The awards can be up to $5,000 per year.
- Colleges that require the CSS Profile can provide fee waiver codes to low income students if the ones provided to the student when they fill out the CSS are not sufficient. Students should call the individual college where the CSS is required, but whose fee was not covered by the College Board, and ask about Fee Payment Codes. This was the most exciting thing I learned at the whole workshop!! (Please note, this does NOT mean that every family can call up the schools and ask for fee waivers. These still only apply to students who have a financial hardship in paying the fees associated with filing the CSS. Remember, it is a financial based form. Colleges will be able to see your income and assets, only ask if you really need it).
- If your family has a change to their financial situation that is not clear on the FAFSA or CSS, call the Financial Aid office at the school and inquire about what kind of professional judgement can be made to adjust your award package. This would be in a situation say where a parent lost a job in February of 2012, or got an illness diagnosis in November of 2011.
- NEW THIS YEAR: If your EFC has an asterisk * next to it and you've been selected for verification, you can no longer provide documentation to the colleges via a 1040. Thanks to fraud and lots of people faking these documents, colleges are now only supposed to accept a tax transcript from the IRS, which the parent will have to call the IRS to request. It was suggested to have the transcript faxed as opposed to mailed on paper, since mailing it will take significantly longer. If a family doesn't have access to a fax machine please use the school's fax number and make me aware of when to expect it so I can be sure the main office is prepared to get such a sensitive document. If you are are not selected for verification, you don't need to worry about this step.
- For students that are undocumented, I highly recommend connecting with the New York State Youth Leadership Council. They offer a support group for undocumented students and are a fabulous resource to understand how to apply, attend, and afford college. If you fall into this category, please see me so I can give you more information. Their website is www.nysylc.org if you are not undocumented but want to help support legislation to open up paths to citizenship for students in this category, look up ways to support the DREAM Act.
- Overall the main idea with Financial Aid is MEET DEADLINES and triple check every number before submitting. It is easy to make mistakes, especially when you rush. File the FAFSA this month then be sure to remember to log back in and update the entire thing with your 2011 numbers. They make you jump through a lot of hoops, but ask yourself if that is worth the chance to get money. Usually, it is.
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