FAFSA on the Phone

Paying for College
1

<p>I found this article on my daughter's school's finaid website. Apparently this phone submission is being phased in with three states this year...but I think it has a LOT of potential for those students who do not have online access to file their FAFSA. I will say, I found it odd that Rhode Island was thought to have limited internet access. EVERYONE I know in Rhode Island has easy internet access. BUT maybe I don't know the areas where it is limited. Anyway...here is the article.</p>

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<p>FAFSA on the Phone (FOTP) provides applicants with real-time assistance from a customer service representative in completing the FAFSA. FOTP was developed as an alternative for FAFSA applicants and is not intended to replace our FAFSA on the Web application. This new service is designed for applicants who do not have access to FAFSA on the Web and who are facing fast-approaching state application deadlines.</p>

<p>Because this is a new option and because we do not want current online filers to switch to FOTP, we are doing a phased, controlled rollout-a rollout that is supported by informed college access professionals. To determine where to start with the rollout, Federal Student Aid analyzed paper submission trends and identified three target states that would benefit most from the FOTP service. The states identified were Indiana (the state with the highest percent of paper filers) and Rhode Island and West Virginia (states that may not have ready access to Internet services for online filing).</p>

<p>Federal Student Aid is pleased about this milestone that increases accessibility to the FAFSA. FOTP is free, fast, reliable, and accurate and provides real-time counseling on the financial aid process and end-to-end support for submission of the FAFSA. If you have questions regarding FOTP, please contact the FSAIC at 1-800-4-FED-AID.</p>

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<p>Wow, that’s interesting. Ya think ya’d get to talk to REAL people? Seems sort of retro, after having machines and electronic voice recognition replace humans in all sorts of customer service businesses.</p>