By Catherine Mueller At first, it seems a little unusual – receiving an update to a FAFSA preview presentation when the 2024-25 FAFSA was released almost 6 months ago. But, then again, this year has been anything but typical. In a June 12 update to an Electronic Announcement issued last year, the Department of Education said […]
Updated “preview” presentation now available for the current FAFSA Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Students across the country are now beginning to receive their long-awaited financial aid offers, and for some families those offers are not what they hoped for or what they expected. In previous years, students would have received financial aid offers much earlier in the year, but this year due to problems with the
Two FAFSA Simplification changes impacting financial aid offers Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Completing the FAFSA can make the difference when it comes to pursuing your dreams for the future. For many students, who couldn’t otherwise afford the cost of an education, the FAFSA makes it possible. If you haven’t completed the 2024-25 FAFSA, here are some reasons why you should: Because financial aid could be
Five reasons to complete the FAFSA Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Many have predicted the problems with the 2024-25 FAFSA will have an impact on college enrollment this fall. A new research article out this week, however, provides new analysis on FAFSA completion data, enrollment projections, and recommended actions. A May 7 article, written by Katharine Meyer and published on the Brookings Institute website, suggests
By Catherine Mueller Even though a FAFSA belongs to a student, the student is usually not the only person with a role in completing it. To determine who, if anyone, should contribute to their FAFSA, a student should first determine if they are considered dependent or independent. The Department of Education provides a list of personal circumstances that
Questions to determine who needs to contribute to a student’s FAFSA Read More »
By Catherine Mueller For those financial aid professionals tracking some of the known technical issues with the processing of student FAFSA records, another couple of updates were added to the list this week. The Department on May 22 added two alerts to the Technical FAQ and Known Issues Guide. The guide, which the Department says is “to
Two new issues with student FAFSA data added to technical guide Read More »
By Catherine Mueller The gate restricting entry to the FAFSA for some students and their parents has been opened by the Department of Education. In an Electronic Announcement this week, the U.S. Department of Education said it would allow students, whose parents may not have a Social Security number, to immediately access the 2024-25 FAFSA online after creating
Accessing the 2024-25 FAFSA may be easier now for those without a Social Security number Read More »
By Catherine Mueller For most students, applying for financial aid for college is not a solo act. In other words, students who are under the age of 24 must ask their parent or parents to contribute to their FAFSA – unless they have personal or unusual circumstances that exempt them from including parent information. If a
Nine reasons why a student wouldn’t ask a parent to provide information on the FAFSA Read More »
By Catherine Mueller This week, the Department of Education is emailing students and contributors who still need to make a correction to a 2024-25 FAFSA form, as well as to those who started a form, but did not yet submit it. In addition, the Department recently launched two videos – one for students and one for contributors – that
Resources to help with FAFSA corrections Read More »
After successfully completing your FAFSA, you should celebrate your accomplishment. However, don’t celebrate so much that you forget you will have other tasks to complete. One of those tasks is to review your FAFSA Submission Summary. One to three days after a student submits a 2024-25 FAFSA (and provided a valid email address), the student
Six things you should check on your FAFSA Submission Summary Read More »
