After my parents and I filled out our FAFSA for both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, the last page told me to fill out signatures for the student and parent. I chose the option of printing out a ticket on paper and then having my parents sign it so I can send the signatures by mail. If I do that, how would I know if the government got my signatures and approve my FAFSA application completed? I also want to know how much financial aid money would I get if I’m a low income minority student?
You can send by mail and have delivery verified. The website will show the status. I believe the max amount this year is $6495 and based on income. It will show your parents expected contribution so not hard to calculate.
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Did you check the universities Net Price Calculators (NPC)? Each university has an NPC on their websites. It gives you an estimate of what you might expect.
Once you are accepted to a university, you will receive a separate page from the schools’ financial aid departments indicating aid.
They will list the ”government’s” portion like PELL ($6495 or less), and/or federal loans.
Then they will list what the university will provide.
No one knows exactly what you will receive because it is based upon each university’s budget, but you need to look at the NPC for each school.
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Filling out the FAFSA opens you up to four main sources of federal financial aid.
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Pell Grant: The maximum amount awarded is $6495 per year. Not all students who qualify for the Pell Grant will receive the full amount, some will receive as little as a couple hundred dollars or less. Students with a FAFSA EFC of $0 will receive the full amount.
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Direct Student Loans: These are loans guaranteed by the government. The interest rates are relatively low, compared to private student loans. You do not have to start repaying them until after you graduate or stop attending college. The maximum you can borrow using your DSLoans is $5500/yr as a freshman, up to $7500/yr as a senior. Another advantage of DSLoans (compared to private student loans) is that once you start paying it back, you can request deferments, or request income-based monthly payment amounts. You don’t usually get those benefits with private student loans.
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Work Study: You will be placed at the front of the line for any on-campus student jobs that qualify for this federal program. Unlike unaffiliated jobs, this program limits the number of hours students can work each week in order to make sure the student has enough time for class work. This provides a safe way for students to earn spending/living money while in college. Of the four items listed here, this is the one that usually always ends up as $ directly to the student instead of going to pay for tuition and school costs.
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SEOG: This is similar to the Pell Grant, except instead of being tied directly to the student these funds are distributed to the colleges, who then decide which of their Pell Grant eligible students will receive SEOG monies. This is a limited amount and you will help your chances of receiving some by applying (and being accepted) to colleges as soon as possible. Schools might award as much as a couple of thousand dollars a year to a student, or as little as zero.
There may be other FAFSA benefits for low-income students, but those are the four that came first to my mind.
PS: a 5th benefit is that many schools will not award the university’s institutional need-based FinAid without first filling out the FAFSA (and/or CSS).
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So when people advise on the benefits of applying for FA early, is it mostly for the SEOG grants? I would assume that the other three elements you listed don’t “run out”?
Also, if a college gives their own institutional grants, are those likely to run out?
Mostly, people are referring to the colleges’ own institutional grants/scholarships running out. That’s usually a larger amount than any SEOG dollars awarded to any one student. And thus, a bigger concern for students who need significant FinAid.
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Thank you.
Do you think that is also true for schools that guarantee to meet full need? Are they likely to give less depending on the timing of the FAFSA/CSS profile?
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In a very general sense, yes. If FAFSA and Profile are not submitted, or maybe even if submitted but after a deadline, a school that meets full need will not or may not provide any institutional need-based aid. Otherwise, as long as deadlines are met and the forms are correctly completed, the timing of form submission should not have any impact on the amount awarded by a school that pledges to meet full need.
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Schools that guarantee to meet full need (and are Need Blind) will always meet full need as the school determines that need for accepted students. What a school determines your need to be is not always the same as what the family thinks the need should be.
Also, some schools meet that need by including loans that a student must pay back. Make sure you research and find out which schools meet full need without loans and which include loans.
Be aware that many schools that market themselves as “Full Need” schools are also “Need Aware” when it comes to admittance. A Need Aware university might deny admittance to an academically qualified student because the school doesn’t wish to pay the amount of need the student would require. In some cases, this decision might be based on the school having already admitted the maximum number of FinAid needy students it can afford. For this reason, it makes sense to apply to Need Aware schools early so you can have your application reviewed before they shut off the aid.
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I checked a few of them. They are very cheap when it comes to financial aid.
@unknowncreature – As I recall from some of your other posts, you are planning to attend Purdue, starting this January. If you haven’t already done so, you should look into Purdue’s Boiler Affordability Grant. I am hopeful that it might give you some additional grant money.
https://www.purdue.edu/dfa/cost/BoilerAffordabilityGrant.html
And you should also consider setting up a meeting with a Purdue Financial Aid counselor to see if there are other resources that would be helpful that you might not otherwise know about.
Here is how you reach a Purdue Financial Aid counselor:
You may continue to contact us via email at facontact@purdue.edu, or call 765-494- 5050 , Monday -Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to speak with a phone counselor
Good luck!
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Work study funds at a school can also ‘run out.’ Schools can award them and then re-award them if some students do not work as much as they could have under the initial award. If you don’t get a work student award or don’t get enough, you can always get a non-work study award (a job!) on your own.
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Why did you choose to mail this? It’s way easier, quicker and more efficient to electronically sign and send it in…and especially with how the USPS is these days…I’d do electronic.
If your parents are not U.S. citizens, you have to print out and mail…but otherwise…why?
@kelsmom can this student go back in and choose to electronically submit…or is it too late.
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I wondered this, too, especially because OP is looking to start in January. Seems like time is running short, as the spring bill is likely due early January.
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Yes, the student can go back in and have a parent sign. I always reached out to applicants & had them do an electronic signature when they chose paper … it takes forever for the paper signature to be processed. I strongly suggest doing this unless there is some reason that the parent is unable to provide an electronic signature (if neither is a US citizen/permanent resident, for example). It’s easy to do: Federal Student Aid.
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@unknowncreature please read this, and if you can do so, submit electronically.
“ Yes, the student can go back in and have a parent sign. I always reached out to applicants & had them do an electronic signature when they chose paper … it takes forever for the paper signature to be processed. I strongly suggest doing this unless there is some reason that the parent is unable to provide an electronic signature (if neither is a US citizen/permanent resident, for example). It’s easy to do: Federal Student Aid.”
And sorry…I did not mean to direct this reply to Kelsmom!
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Our bill was always received in late November for January attendance.
@unknowncreature, please submit it electronically. It’s instantaneous and will give you peace of mind to have it done.
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thank you