It’s FAFSA season again, and thanks to FAFSAOnline.com, we’re providing students and families with a downloadable FAFSA Help Guide to the online form. This detailed guide will answer the most common questions about filing the FAFSA, as well as provide some useful tips to help you get the most financial aid. Best of all, it’s free!

What information can you find in the FAFSA guide?

• Filing your FAFSA before taxes
• Tax credit information
• Determining a student’s dependency status
• Defining a parent
• Using IRS Data Retrieval

And much more!
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The Department of Education has been making great strides in streamlining the often-confusing online FAFSA form. This year, students and parents should find it much easier to navigate through the process, as well as collect the information necessary to file the form.

Here’s what you can expect to find in the improved 2012-2013 FAFSA:

• Easier online navigation- The sections and questions have been reordered to make it easier to navigate. This best part of this is that the system now knows where you left off, so if you fill out the form over a few sessions, there’s no more searching for your next steps. Plus, it’s “skip logic” has been improved. This means that the system will eliminate unnecessary questions based on what you’ve already answered, making less work for you!

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January is quickly approaching, and you know what that means? FAFSA season. Filing your FAFSA is a critical step in the financial aid process. However, if you have never applied for financial aid before, everything can get overwhelming, and fast! This is why you should know your options beforehand. You can then apply directly to a loan lender.

Major types of financial aid:

• Private scholarships and grants
• Federal grants (Pell, Academic Competitiveness Grant, SMART, FSEOG)
• Federal student loans (Stafford, Parent PLUS, Graduate PLUS, Perkins Loans)
• Federal work study
• Private Student Loans

How to apply:

Scholarships and grants
Private scholarships and grants have individual applications and deadlines. While the application process can be time-consuming, every little bit helps!

Federal aid
The FAFSA is your application for all of the federal types of financial aid listed above. Students need to submit it starting January 1st of each year, and the sooner you file, the better!

Private loans
If you’ve exhausted your scholarship and federal aid resources, then it’s time to apply for a private loan. Each lender will have different interest rates and benefits, so it helps to compare your loan options to find what’s best for you.

For more information on the different types of financial aid and for a helpful financial aid calendar, check out our Financial Aid 101 eBook.

Let’s face it, financial strategy and planning is not always on the forefront of college students’ minds. There is a lot of great information out there to help students budget while in college, but many busy students don’t have the time or will to read it. Enter Financial IQ Webinars by Great Lakes.

Great Lakes is a student loan servicer that is providing free webinars to students on financial literacy topics. Open to all students (not just those whose loans are serviced by GL) the webinars will focus on Money 411, Credit Card Smarts, and Student Loan Repayment – Everything you need to know.

For busy students, these hour-long webinars can be a relatively quick and easy way to get a little more finance-savvy. Below you can find a list of these webinars with dates, times, and more detailed information.
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Here at StudentLoanNetwork.com, we get a lot of questions from students and parents. One of the more common ones involves withdrawal; If a student withdraws from school, what happens to financial aid? The short answer is, it depends.

What does it mean to withdraw?

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? A withdrawal from school is when a student ceases to be enrolled before the closing of a period of enrollment. The actual date depends on your school and how semesters are arranged. Dropping a class or two does not count as a school withdrawal, and the following standards do not apply in that situation. Note: You always want to officially withdraw, as an unofficial withdrawal may lead to failing grades and a poor transcript.

What happens to federal aid?

In the case of a withdrawal, your school is required to return a portion of your Title IV aid to the Department of Education. This includes only the federal aid you received, private loans are treated differently. The exact amount returned depends on when you withdraw from classes. If you withdraw after you are 60% through the semester, all of your financial aid is considered “earned” and will not be returned to the government. However, a withdrawal before this date requires some calculations by your financial aid office to determine how much of the funds were considered used.
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If you’re like most students, federal aid may not cover your whole Cost of Attendance. Between tuition, books, housing, and all of the other expenses you face in college, federal financial aid can only stretch so far. To help fill the gap, students turn to a variety of sources to help them get to that diploma.

Some of the most common ways students pay for school include private loans, part-time jobs, and parental help, just to name a few. To learn more tips and tricks to help pay for school, check out the Fill the Gap infographic.

» View the Fill the Gap Infographic: How Students Pay for College

Now it’s your turn. We want to know how you pay for school. Did you get a private loan? Maybe saved up money since middle school?

Leave a comment and let us know how you pay for school!

For most families, the act of opening the financial aid offer letter is a harrowing one. In just a few short sentences they will see how much a college or university is willing to offer in the way of student loans and scholarships. But what happens when that figure is too low?

Believe it or not, a student aid package that offered less than expected does not necessarily mean the end of the road. In some cases, a borrower can appeal to the school for more money. So how can this be done?

When to Appeal

For starters, strike the word “negotiate” from your vocabulary. If you call a financial aid office and tell them you want to negotiate your student loan package, it will be a very short phone call.  You are not negotiating. You are “appealing.” There is a difference. The first step is to call the financial aid office and inquire about the process of submitting an appeal. Most likely, you will be asked to write a letter explaining, in detail, why you feel the aid package should be reconsidered.

Your appeal letter will explain, in brief, the grounds on which you are appealing the financial aid offer. You should decide early on whether this an appeal for need or for merit, or for both. If it is an appeal for need, you must demonstrate to the school that your federal aid package simply isn’t enough for you to afford attending the school. More than likely, a successful appeal based on need will cover a recent change in your financial situation, such as a series of expensive medical bills or a parent losing his or her job. You will need evidence to back up your claim, including copies of bills and pay stubs.

You may also appeal on the grounds of merit. An exceptional student may be eligible for various scholarships or grants. Look into the criteria for these awards. The best evidence to appeal on these grounds is a stronger scholarship offer from a similar school.

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So you’ve gotten your financial aid award package from your schools but you didn’t get as much federal aid as you had hoped. Now what? Well, there are some other financial options for you to consider.

Scholarships

Scholarships can be a great way to fill the gap between the aid you received and the aid you need. ScholarshipPoints.com gives away monthly $1,000 scholarships, and the best part is, it’s open to all students enrolled in college! There are none of the restrictions that most other scholarships have, if you participate, you can win! The program is pretty simple too- you earn points by completing surveys, or reading blogs, then you can enter these points into our monthly drawings! Easy as pie. PLUS, there are quarterly $10,000 drawings, so there’s really no reason no to join.
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One of the most common issues students deal with revolves around the FAFSA filing status. Many students feel they should be considered independent, yet the FAFSA still requires them to file as dependent. Under special circumstances, students have the ability to appeal their dependency status. For those students who believe their circumstances qualify them for financial independence (for FAFSA purposes), I’m going to walk you through how to do this, including what documents you may need. If you don’t know your current status, read our post on Dependent VS. Independent Status.

What types of situations can be appealed?

First thing’s first, if your sole reason for filing an appeal is that you support yourself or that your parents refuse to support your education, then you will not qualify for an appeal. However, other circumstances are considered. Some common reasons for appealing dependency include:

• Abandonment
• Danger of physical or mental abuse
• Your parents (or parent for single parent family) are incarcerated
• Your supporting parent is deceased and you have no contact with the other

Keep in mind, these are not the only reasons that are accepted as schools differ in their requirements. If you’re not sure if your particular situation qualifies, you should contact a financial aid officer from your school.

How to appeal

Each school has specific guidelines for the appeals process, and in some cases, there are school-specific forms you will need to fill out. Most of the time you can find the qualifications and forms on the school’s website. However, the one thing that most schools ask for is a letter from the student explaining their circumstances. In this letter, make sure to be specific! After all, you’re arguing your case, so the more information you provide, the better. Included in this letter should be 1) why your parents aren’t helping 2) information regarding your income and what your money is allotted for and 3) your educational goals, explaining why more money is necessary to achieve them through your institution. Each situation is different, so tailor the letter to you and what your needs are. Along with this letter, it is important to provide as much documentation as possible to back up your claim. Acceptable documentation includes (but is not limited to):

• Letters attesting to a student’s situation: Most schools require students to submit letters from independent sources. These can be from almost anyone who knows your story- ministers, friends, non-parental relatives, guidance counselors, attourneys etc. These letters should explain the writer’s relationship to the student, and like the student’s letter, provide as much detail as possible about the student’s situation. Depending on school guidelines, these may need to be notarized.
• Bank statements
• W2s
• Court documents/ police reports
• Documentation of parental incarceration
• Death certificates

What now?

Once all of your required documents have been submitted, all you can do is wait. Depending on your school, your appeal will be reviewed by a financial aid officer or panel of officers who will work with the Department of Education to change your status (hopefully). It is possible that more documentation may be required, and if this is the case, you will be contacted. If you do need to provide more, don’t panic! Simply provide the requested documents and wait it out. Note: If you are approved for a certain year, this does not mean that you are approved for upcoming years as well. For future academic years, you will need to appeal again!

Navigating the FAFSA to get adequate financial aid can be a nightmare for some students, so appealing dependency status may be the difference between going to school or not. If you have any specific questions about your school’s process, they should be directed to your financial aid office. Good luck!

Applying for and receiving financial aid can be a long and confusing process, but don’t fret, we’re here to help! We’ve compiled information on all of the steps necessary for receiving financial aid to help answer your most common questions. The financial aid roadmap outlines all of the steps you should take, from how to fill out your FAFSA to tips on comparing financial aid packages.

So, what are the steps?

1. Prepare for, and fill out your FAFSA form
2. Review your Student Aid Report (SAR)
3. Compare your award letters and financial aid packages
4. Review your federal loan options and contact your financial aid office to accept
5. Apply for additional aid to cover your full cost of tuition

Now that you have the entire process at your fingertips, make sure to start early! It’s important to file your FAFSA as soon as possible so that you can receive maximum aid and be on your way to that college degree.