1. Financial Aid Information
Applying for Financial Aid
Presented by: Upward Bound
Presented to: Seniors and Parents

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Financial Aid Information- Workshop Goals
• Give an overview of Financial Aid
• Provide assistance in completing the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Answer questions about financial aid.

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What exactly is financial aid?
Financial Aid is monetary assistance to help pay for college. It can
come from the government, a college or university, or a private
source.
•Financial Aid comes in many forms:
• Grants (free money, doesn’t have to be paid back).
• Scholarships (can be merit or need based, doesn’t have to
be paid back, conditions apply for renewal. This money can
be received directly from the college or if applied for by the
student (outside scholarships).
• Loans (money that has to be paid back, most common loans
are Federal Stafford Loans, PLUS loans, and private loans.)
• Work Study (money paid to the student weekly or bi-weekly
in exchange for hours worked in a job on or off campus. This
money is not taken off of your bill. It must be earned.)

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How much financial aid can I get?
It depends on your financial need.
•Financial need is determined by Expected Family Contribution
(EFC) and cost of attendance (COA).
•EFC comes from what you report on FAFSA
•COA is tuition, fees, room and board, transportation, etc.
•COA – EFC = financial need
• $40,000 (cost of attendance) - $15,000 (estimated financial
contribution) = $25,000 in financial need.

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When To Apply
•Apply for financial aid no earlier than the senior year in
high school.
•The FAFSA filing period begins January 1, 2013. Some
schools have priority filing deadlines as early as February
1(check with the colleges where you are applying for
admission).
•Students can still complete the FAFSA past the priority
filing date, but may miss out on major aid programs. (MA
priority date: 5/1/13)
•You do not have to be admitted to a college first to apply
for financial aid. So apply as soon as you know the colleges
your child is interested in applying to.

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To be eligible for federal student aid, you must...
•Be a United States citizen with a valid Social Security number
or an eligible non-citizen with a social security number and
alien registration number.
•Have a high school diploma or General Education
Development (GED).
•Enroll as a regular student in an eligible degree or certificate
program approved by the U.S. Dept. of Education.
•Register (or have registered) for Selective Service (applies to
males between the ages of 18 to 25).
Eligibility

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For a student to be considered independent and provide no
parental information he or she must be able to answer yes to at
least one of the following:
• Since the age of 13, both parents were deceased, the student was in foster
care, or the student was a dependent or ward of the court.
• Student is 24 years of age or older.
• Student is married.
• Student has child he or she provides more than 50% of financial support.
• Student has other dependents he or she lives with and provides more than
50% of support.
• Student is veteran or currently on active duty.
• Student is working on Master’s degree.
• Student is an emancipated minor as determined by a court.
• Student is under legal guardianship as determined by a court.
• Student was homeless (any time after July 1, 2010 as determined by an
official source).
• Student has special circumstances that has kept the student from any
parental contact (and thus any parent financial support) and can be
supported by three official sources. [i.e. guidance counselor, counselor,
clergy, social worker, etc.]. This determination is left to each individual
college.
Student Dependency Status

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Documents/Information Needed To File for a FASFA
• Social Security numbers for the student and parent(s).
• Date of Birth for student and parents.
• Date parent(s) were married, divorced, separated, or widowed.
• Alien Registration Number for student (if applicable)
• W-2 forms and other records of money earned. (student and
parents)
• Federal income tax returns for parent and student for 2012 [IRS
Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, foreign tax return]. You may use
2011 tax information to receive an estimated financial aid
information until you complete your 2012 taxes. If you use 2011
information you will have to update it after you file for your 2012
taxes
• Untaxed income records - Social Security, Temporary Assistance
to needy families, welfare/veterans’ benefit records.
See handout- Acceptable Forms Of Income Documentation for a
complete list of all information and documents you may need.

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FAFSA Tips
The following sections are best practices when filling out
your financial aid application. These tips will help reduce
your chances of having your FAFSA rejected for errors and
will help you understand some unclear questions better.

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Student Info Tips
• Your name must be written exactly as it appears on
your Social Security card. (This includes spaces,
hyphens, and multiple names)
• Do not use any nicknames.
• Social Security Number will be matched with Social
Security Administration (SSA)
• Contact the SSA to obtain your SSN or update info.1-
800-772-1213 or www.ssa.gov
• Enter your permanent mailing address.

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Student Info Tips (Continued)
• Male students between the ages of 18-25 can automatically
register for Selective Service by filling in the “Yes” oval at
the designated question.
• Male students must register with the selective service to
receive federal student aid.
• You can choose NO on the FAFSA to this question but you
will not be awarded any financial aid until documentation of
your Selective Service Registration is received.

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Student Info Tips (Continued)
Other Types of Student Financial Aid Question:
• It is best to select both Loans and Work Study.
• You can decline any loans when aid is awarded.
• By leaving some boxes unchecked, you may limit your
financial aid options.
• Work-Study may give you the opportunity to get an on- or off-
campus job at your school, if eligible.

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Student Info Tips (Continued)
• Question: Have you ever been convicted of possessing
or selling illegal drugs while receiving financial aid?
• You must answer this questions. Financial aid will not be
awarded if question is left blank.
• The question ONLY applies if the applicant was convicted
of possessing or selling illegal drugs while receiving
Federal Aid. So the answer regardless of prior
circumstances is NO for students who have never
attended college before (incoming Freshman). However,
once a student has attended college and received
financial aid he or she can have financial aid taken away
if he or she is convicted of possessing or selling illegal
drugs from that point forward.

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Parents Info Tips
• Your name must be written exactly as it appears on your
Social Security card.
• The financial information must be for the parent(s) who are
completing the FAFSA form. This includes a step-parent.
• Enter SSN as “000-00-00” if parent lives in a different
country or does not have a SSN.
• If parents are divorced or separated:
• Provide information of the parent the student lived with
most over the last 12 months.
• Provide information of the parent that provided most of
the student’s support.

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Parents Info Tips (cont.)
• Number of People Living in Household
• Include the student, parent(s), and brothers/sisters living
in the same home.
• Include other children outside of the home if your parents
will provide more than half their financial support between
July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.
• Example: Include a child from a previous relationship
if the parent is providing more than half of the
financial support for that child, even though he or she
does not live in the household.
• Include other people only if they live with your parents and
your parents will provide more than half their financial
support between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.
• Example: Include a grandmother if she lives with your
family and your parents are financially supporting her.

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Parents Info (cont.)
• Number in College
• Write down the number of people in the household who
will be college students.
• Include the student applicant.
• Do not include parent(s) if currently in or will be in
college.
• If a person in your household can be counted as an
independent student do not include in number in college.
(If this student could answer yes to any of the
dependency questions he or she would not count as a
dependant for the parent financially.)

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Things To Do
• File the FAFSA electronically at:
• www.fafsa.ed.gov
• Processed more quickly than the paper version
(2wks).
• Use the FAFSA on the Web Worksheet to prepare for
on-line processing.
• Make a copy of the completed FAFSA & supporting
documents.
• Obtain a Certificate of Mailing form from the Post
Office if you choose to do a paper FAFSA.
• Sign and date the form.
• Check for completeness.
• Do not write comments on the form.
• Meet all priority filing deadlines. 1. Check with the
school regarding their priority deadlines first. 2. The
state of Massachusetts has a priority deadline of May
1, 2013 for consideration for state grants and other
forms of aid.
6

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What happens NEXT?
• The federal FAFSA processor sends a Student Aid Report
(SAR) to the student. This will be sent to the student’s
email address if one was provided. Otherwise, it will be
mailed to the address on file. (Go to the post office and file
a change of address form if you move after completing the
FAFSA. That way you will receive redirected mail.)
• The federal processor sends a SAR to the colleges and
universities you specified.
• Colleges use the information from the SAR to award
financial aid in the form of grants, loans, scholarships, or
work-study.
• Colleges send students estimated or official financial aid
offer letters. (Note if you use 2011 tax information this
information will be estimated until you use 2012
information.)

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Additional Resources
Websites
• U.S. Department of Education:
• www.studentaid.ed.gov
• The College Board:
www.collegeboard.com
• Electronic FAFSA:
www.fafsa.ed.gov
• FinAid: The SmartStudent
Guide to Financial Aid:
www.finaid.org
• PROFILE:
https://profileonline.collegeboa
rd.com
• Scholarships for
undocumented students:
www.maldef.org
• Collegiate Athletics:
www.ncaa.org
Phone Numbers
•U.S. Dept. of Education 800-
433-3243
•FAFSA Processor 1-
800-433-3243
•Free Publications 800-
394-7084

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Financial Aid Appointments
Please call us to set up an appointment to complete the
FAFSA.
•Phone# (508) 894-4398 Upward Bound Office Brockton High
School- Yellow Guidance
•Email: lsligh@asa.org, jkarner@asa.org Lecia Sligh or Jessie
Karner;