OMG. They don’t want just the information that’s available on an IRS form, they want the information that’s provided on the FAFSA, which includes assets and number of kids in college, among other things that aren’t on a 1040. They don’t need to make their own form, because the FAFSA asks for all the information that’s required. And as I’ve already said – most of the kids have already filled out the online FAFSA, so all that needs to be done is transfer the numbers to the paper form.
I don’t understand why this is such a difficult concept for you. The FAFSA is designed to assess a student’s need for financial aid, based on family finances and conditions. Whether any kind of “calculation” is done or not, a picture of need can be established just by looking at the numbers on the form.
And what good is a 4-6 page form just full of numbers? Someone has to run it through the calculations for it to have any meaning. If A has $100k in income but 27 dependents, is he more or less needy than B with $40k in income but only 1 dependent? Someone has to evaluate the data. For submitted FAFSAs, the computer does it.
OP asked if the sponsor could REQUIRE the FAFSA. Sure, it can require anything it wants to, but then has the responsibility of securing the info, of processing if for those submitting a non-official FAFSA, of deciding if the sponsor wants those not eligible to file the FAFSA to be able to participate in the scholarship program. Belknap can obviously just decide if someone is low income by looking a the FAFSA without running the calculator and without a SAR. OP needs to decide if her organization is as talented. I would not recommend an organization take on that burden. The high school doesn’t want the responsibility.
Now you’re just being ridiculous. Maybe you can’t look at a completed FAFSA and discern what’s what, but it can be done. It’s not hard. Neither is “securing the info,” especially if it’s kept in paper form. Ever heard of a shredder? OP’s main question was if it was “common” for local scholarships to require the FAFSA, and a good range of answers have been provided.
It is not a big deal to request a copy of the SAR as a requirement of the scholarship. You could see from the SAR minimally if the student us Pell eligible ( which could be very important if you are looking to help kids who have a great financial need). Yes it may work against students who are not citizens/ permanent records but some of the information is also being verified for you on a processed FAFSA. The SAR could be downloaded as s off file if it needs to be emailed or uploaded as an attachment to application.
You could have an application instructions for undocumented students for students who have DACA.
Since the FAFSA is now prior prior in most cases the income would be linked to the IRS data retrieval took.
In addition you would have student information SSN and info needed to distribute the 1099 Misc form for tax records.
I was a low income student. It wouldn’t have bothered me to submit the FAFSA to be considered for a scholarship. But I wouldn’t turn over my ss# unless I was awarded a scholarship and the organization needed it to give me a tax form.
I like the idea of using the FAFSA. it’s a federal form and since the numbers on it will be verified using the data retrieval tool, I think it should be fairly accurate. I think people tend to guesstimate on less official forms. I like that better than relying on teachers to submit names. They shouldn’t be the gatekeepers. I don’t think most forms will be that complicated, but even if they are the scholarship organizers should be able to to make a determination. No matter what form is used, evaluating need is a judgment call. Yes, if they use the FAFSA the organizations will have to decide who will be eligible for their scholarship. They have to do that anyway.
In my area, I know of multiple families who have gamed the system as far as FAFSA goes. They would look poor but actually have no need. The GC might actually have a better idea of who really does have need.
Certainly you could ask for recommendations from the GC, which coukd include some info about the student’s situation. But really? How often do we hear about how little GC’s really know their students? I just don’t see how they’re going to be in a position to know much in many cases. If the kid has shared that info, or been in some special programs for low-income students maybe. And the school in general knows who is on free/reduced lunch. But i just don’t think GCs necessarily know much at all about a family’s finances.
Our local scholarship org has an online common app of sorts, at which students can use the one form to apply to whichever of several dozen local scholarships they may be qualified for, the scholarship org reviews them all. Some, those with a need component, required the SAR report - not the FAFSA itself but the final, calculated SAR which provides the EFC.
It was IMO an easy way to deal with it as we’d already filled out FAFSA.
Wow, you all are great! There is a lot of info to consider.
One, the donor doesn’t really know the ins and outs of this and he is telling me his neighbor is the one who keeps saying he has to use FAFSA. He now lives in a very wealthy area across the country from his hometown and so I am wondering if that community has different practices.
Our town is a very small town and it is not unfair to say that the HS administration is very clued in to most student’s home life. It’s just a small town and you see the same guy at Kiwnis as you do in his store and coaching local basketball. Most of the teachers and staff actually live in the same town. It’s also probably as little less sophisticated than some higher pressure districts and so the local scholarships are really just done with very simple paper applications and hard copy LORs. My donor probably is getting advice from people more accustomed to higher dollar and more competitive scholarships.
My donor and his friends all grew up poor and he got help to go to school. I think he does not realize how times have changed and even middle income stable families can use “a hand up” too, not just the poorest of the poor. I think his reason for wanting to verify income is to make sure a student really needs this money. But the fact is today, MOST of the students who apply can really use an extra $2000!!
The application will be due the beginning of April, so requiring FAFSA is totally doable. I just don’t want to discourage anyone from applying. Especially if they are not comfortable submitting all that personal info to staff and scholarship committee who are the same people they see at the grocery store etc etc.
Our town is like that too. It was a deterrent for me, to suggesting D apply for a Kiwanis scholarship with a need component. I know almost everyone in our local Kiwanis, would definitely know the specific people reading her app, and it was just a little too close for me to feel comfortable sharing financial info. She didn’t apply for it as a result, only did the county-level ones I mentioned before.
IDK if that’s a factor but sometimes in a super small town you just don’t want to share that much personal info.
If Kiwanis ran their scholarship through the county foundation app, she’d have applied.
I just want to point out that while many middle income stable families could use “a hand up” , this donor may prefer to help the “poorest of the poor.” I often read on this site about middle income families taking less expensive vacations or keeping their cars for a few more years to free up money for college expenses. The “poorest of the poor” probably never take a vacation and may not own a car at all. If this person grew up very poor, he may be more interested in helping someone in a similar situation who really needs the money, rather than someone who could free up that amount by making some small sacrifices (I’m not picking on the OP, I just think sometimes people don’t understand what it is like to be really poor).
By the way, if I were awarding this scholarship, I would first screen with the FAFSA, and if the student appeared to have financial need, I would double-check with the guidance department to try to determine if this was a situation where the FAFSA might not accurately indicate the family’s need (for example a high-earning non-custodial parent or ownership of a business where assets might not need to be reported).
^^And you think the school would be able to give you that information, even if they had it? My kids’ school had no idea what my financial situation was other than we hadn’t applied for Free or Reduced lunch, and I do not think they can release that information to anyone. Anyway, the school had no information other than our address of what our house cost, whether we owned it, if there was a non-custodial parent with a high income or mansion). n
Why not just ask if the student is Pell/Free lunch eligible, and if the answer is no and the student still wants to apply, then ask the applicant for more information on why there is need? Or ask a specific question like ‘Is the AGI under $70k?’ The school can’t give out the information. The applicant can voluntarily give it.