5 Things to Do After Filing Your FAFSA® Form

NOTE: Contrary to popular belief, the EFC formula considers more than just income. Factors such as family size status, and the amount of household members who will attend college are just a few of the factors.
Apply For as Many Scholarships as You Can

TIP: After your FAFSA form has been processed successfully, it is a fantastic idea to make sure the schools you listed on your FAFSA form have received everything they need. You should find out if your college requires documentation or applications and submit any required documentation by the appropriate deadlines.

5. Make FAFSA® Corrections If You Need To

But do not wait until after you get your financial aid offer to start applying for scholarships. There are thousands of scholarships out there, but many have early deadlines. Set a goal for yourself; for example you aim to apply to one scholarship weekly. There’s tons of free money, but you can’t get it unless you employ. While you await your financial aid offer, make scholarship applications your focus. The applications may take some time, but the potential pay out makes it all worth it.

As I mentioned previously, many schools will not have the ability to satisfy your financial need, so you will need a way to cover the gap between the financial aid your school offers and what the school costs. Scholarships are a great way. (Who does not like free money?)
Cost of attendance
You filed your 2018–19 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form! Wondering what happens next? Here are a few things
Last, after your FAFSA form has been processed (which takes about 3 days), you can go back and submit a correction to particular fields. This includes correcting a typo or adding another school for your FAFSA information. Log in with your FSA ID, and then click “Make FAFSA Corrections.” You may add up to 10 schools at a time. If you’re applying to more than 10 schools, follow these steps.

— Expected family contribution
Your financial “need”

Review Your FAFSA® Confirmation Page

After you complete the FAFSA form online and click “SUBMIT,” you will see a confirmation page like the one below. This isn’t your financial aid offer. You’ll find that separately from the college(s) you apply to and get into. Your school(s) calculate your aid.
The information you report on your FAFSA form is used to calculate your EFC. It’s very important to note that the EFC, in most cases, is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college. Rather, the EFC is an index number used by financial aid offices to calculate your financial need. The formula they use is:

Each school will do its best to meet with your financial need. Some schools may meet 100 percent of your financial need, and other schools may meet with 10 percent–it just depends upon the financial aid and the school they have available that year. You should complete the FAFSA form annually since there are many factors that could change from year to year.
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NOTE: Parents of dependent students cannot initiate a FAFSA correction. Students have to begin the correction process by logging in using their FSA ID, clicking “Make FAFSA Corrections,” and creating a Save Key they could share with their parent.

Sandra Vuong is a Digital Engagement Strategist in Federal Student Aid.
Remember that your school disburses your help, not the “FAFSA people” (Federal Student Aid). Contact your school’s financial aid office about when they send out aid offers for details. If you want to see an estimate of your school’s average yearly cost, use the College Scorecard. If you would like to report important changes in financial situation or your family, contact your school’s financial aid office.

Published at Thu, 28 Sep 2017 14:15:57 +0000

TIP: Each college you’re accepted to and include in your FAFSA form will send you a financial aid offer. It may be difficult to know just how much aid you may be eligible to get from a specific school, until you receive this notification. To get an idea of how much aid schools tend to give based upon your family’s income, visit CollegeScorecard.ed.gov and type in the school(s) you want to look up.

The confirmation page provides federal aid quotes depending on the information you provided on your FAFSA form. It is important to know that these figures are estimates and assume the information you supplied on the FAFSA form is correct. Your college will take into account other factors, such as the cost to calculate the actual amount of aid you’re eligible for. Additionally, these estimates take into institutional and state financial assistance or consideration aid and not scholarships you may also be eligible for.

The 2018–19 FAFSA form is available on Oct. 1, 2017. That does not mean you’ll find an aid offer straight away if you submit it early. Each college has a different schedule for paying and awarding out help.

If you still do not have enough money to cover college after financial aid and scholarships, consider these choices.
Review Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

Source: TPd Paying for College Feed

5. Make FAFSA® Corrections If You Need To

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