Parents concerned with paying for college will soon find out that the “paperwork” is about to get easier. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is going mobile. This is the form that is vital for students and parents to file in order to be considered for college financial aid, including federal loans, grants, and work study opportunities. It’s best for families to file a FAFSA as soon as possible after October 1st (when the latest FAFSA launches each year) as some colleges have early grant deadlines and some distribute aid on a first-come, first-served basis.
The FAFSA has been available online for years, but students and their parents generally needed to complete the form on a computer as it didn’t work smoothly on mobile devices. But as of October 1st, 2018, the digital options are expected to work flawlessly, allowing anyone with a smartphone to successfully complete the form. The MyStudentAid app can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store or from Good Play for Android devices.
According to The College Board, about two-thirds of full-time students pay for college with the help of financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships, requiring them to file a FAFSA. As expected, the FAFSA asks many questions regarding money, both on the part of the students and their parents. These questions focus on income, savings, expenses, assets and liabilities.
The FAFSA form requests tax information from the prior year. So most people will be able to make use of a “shortcut” offered on the FAFSA, which is the I.R.S. Data Retrieval Tool. People who previously filed their 2017 taxes can check off that they want the FAFSA to link into their taxes and automatically fill in the numbers on all of the financial questions.
A great characteristic of the FAFSA is that, just a moment or two after it is submitted, it immediately indicates a family’s EFC (estimated family contribution). This is the number that is sent to all of the colleges to which a student plans to apply, letting the schools all know what the government believes the family can afford to contribute to the student’s college education. Colleges then make up their financial aid offers based on this figure, typically offering students a combination of loans, grants (which do not get paid back), and work study opportunities.
It’s always wise to answer “yes” to the question of whether a student would like to be approved for work study, as this will then make the student eligible for work-related opportunities on and around campus. For example, if a college professor offers a student the opportunity to do paid research, the student would not be able to do so if not approved for work study. So it’s always best to leave all options open. No one will ever force a student to take on a work study job, but it’s best to be able to do so if the ideal job presents itself.
Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart. For the past 25 years, SAT Smart’s Ivy League educated tutors have prepared students for the PSAT, SAT, ACT, Subject Tests, AP courses, and all high school subjects. Visit www.SATsmart.com or call 908-369-5362.
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